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Water and Sewerage (South-west)

I am very pleased to respond to this debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Torbay (Mr. Sanders) on securing the debate and also on the considered and intelligent way that he made his points on behalf of his constituents and others in the south-west. I am pleased to see several hon. Members who have lobbied me intensively during my time as a Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I am sure they lobbied my predecessors as well. I hope that my progress report today will reassure them. It is worth pointing out that I responded last year to three separate debates on this issue, all of which were well attended. I could certainly forecast at that point that it would not be long after Anna Walker produced her final report that I would be here once again, and the hon. Gentleman has not disappointed me—quite rightly, too. Since the last debate in October, we have made a lot of progress on water matters, as the hon. Gentleman said. Ofwat issued its final determinations of water price limits on 26 November, which will reduce bills by an average of £3 and a little more within the south-west. That is good, but it does not solve the underlying issues. Bills in the UK will fall by an average of £3 before inflation between 2010 and 2015. At the same time, critically, provision will also be made for £22 billion in investment. On 22 December, DEFRA published river basin management plans for 10 river basin districts in England and Wales. The plans set out how we will achieve good water status for each lake, stretch of a river, estuary and coastline. To respond to the hon. Gentleman's understandable comments, several strands of work in the south-west river basin plan are directly relevant to him and his constituents. We are working with South West Water to investigate urban drainage systems to identify and remedy misconnections and other sources of diffuse pollution that are putting the quality of the coastal water at risk. Because planned development in the area will be concentrated around Torbay, future management of urban drainage in the future is an important consideration. We support how the SeaTorbay partnership is working to improve public understanding of and involvement in coastal wildlife and conservation. On 19 November, we published the Flood and Water Management Bill. The Bill received Second Reading in the House on 15 December. Last Thursday it completed Committee stage, and Report and Third Reading are provisionally scheduled for 1 February. Last but by no means least, Anna Walker published her final report on charging for household water and sewerage services on 8 December. It included a package of recommendations to DEFRA Ministers and Welsh Ministers. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman referred to the situation in Wales as well. Welsh constituents are covered not only by Welsh Water/Dwr Cymru but by Severn Trent. I reiterate my thanks and congratulations to Anna Walker. I think that all Members appreciate the outstanding work that she and her team have done in grappling with a range of complex and incredibly difficult issues, not only in the south-west but nationally, involving the fairness of current charges. Her final recommendations reflect extensive and exhaustive stakeholder engagement, including workshops across England and Wales. Two were held in Plymouth, and I know that some hon. Members attended both the first and second to make their views known. The thoroughness of Anna Walker's work is reflected by a chapter in the report dedicated to the south-west. She recognised, as do we, that there are issues to be resolved.