Written question asked by Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party) on Monday, 6 November 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 November 2006. It was answered by David Cairns (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 November 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Telemetry Services

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made by the Water service in rationalising its Telemetry Services; and when a decision is expected on a centralised location.

Answer: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has written to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan, dated 7 November 2006:"You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a parliamentary questions about what progress has been made by the Water Service in rationalising its Telemetry Services; and when a decision is expected in a centralised location. (100347). I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.""Water Service’s rationalisation of its Telemetry Services at a centralised location has already begun and the initial phase, which involves amalgamating the duties previously performed at the Altnagelvin and Ballymena Telemetry Centres at the Altnagelvin site, will be finalised this month.""Water Service is working the vision for its structure in the year 2010 and completing its strategic planning respect of it s needs. This is a substantial amount of work and the elements contributing to the decision on the location of the centralised site for the Telemetry Function have yet to be clarified. However, it is unlikely that a decision on the centralisation will be made before late 2007 or early 2008."

Secondary information