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Flood and Water Management Bill

That is a particular problem. We have seen contractualisation in all manner of industries, and I always think that the greatest loss is the human capital. What training is going on, who is responsible for it and, if it is not going on, what can be done about it, are issues that are not easy to determine. Given that I am unlikely to push the new clauses to a vote, I hope the Minister has noted that we want clarification of how the arrangements will work in practice. The water industry is a people-oriented industry, and we shall all be the losers if we do not invest in the people who will keep the water flowing. I should like the water companies to give the regulator details of their total annual investment in the training and development of their employees, details of compulsory employee training and development plans for each successive five-year regulatory period—clearly a long period will be involved—and details of consultation and negotiation between the undertaker and employee representatives on training and work force development strategies. I make no apology for saying that those proposals are a result of my links with Unison, the major trade union involved in the industry. Let me pass on Unison's thanks to the Minister, who met its representatives, allayed their fear that the Bill would make no provision for training and another opportunity would be lost in an area that had been sadly neglected, and agreed that we must be much clearer about the skills and development programmes that we intend to provide. Government, the water industry, the employees and the regulator must sing from the same song sheet if we are to have an industry that is fit for the 21st century rather than one that is somewhat historic, both in terms of the infrastructure that we are trying to upgrade and in terms of its failure to invest in people. New clause 17 also concerns skills training. I was a wee bit disappointed that the hon. Member for Vale of York (Miss McIntosh) felt that her new clause was so superior to mine that I ought to fall on my sword and accept failure. However, I tabled my new clause for a specific reason. I have been talking to the Environmental Industries Commission. As well as containing some nice words about sustainability and the need for a programmed approach to our ability to organise the industry, the new clause has a specific bite to which I want the Minister to respond. There happens to be an ABB plant in my constituency which produces flow meters. For many years, those at the plant have been telling me that the problem with the water industry and its five-year plans—the beloved "AMP": no one has yet been able to explain to me what that acronym stands for, but I am sure that it stands for something meaningful—is that we may end up with feast and famine or, dare I say, boom and bust. During the years in which the industry has agreement on the new expenditure programmes, the supplier companies will be incredibly busy and have to break every record in responding to the demand that they find so difficult to meet. Towards the end of the five-year period, such will be the pace at which the industry has had to proceed that everyone will start waiting for the next five-year structured approach by Ofwat, and there will be very little work to go around. The aim of new clause 17 is to try to level out some of the activity, given that it is so unbalanced and leads to all manner of problems. As anyone who knows about the water industry will agree, that is entirely counter-productive in the long run. Therefore, I am looking for some assurances from my hon. Friend the Minister. We must consider how we can begin to deal with the problems of the vicious cycle of boom and bust to ensure that the industry can invest over the longer term. It should not think in terms of shorter five-year periods, which is, dare I say it, a drop in the ocean when we consider the history of how we have provided for the supply of water. We should consider how we can level out investment patterns to ensure that investment is not entirely dependent on the encouragement of the regulatory system; that we get proper operational efficiency within the idea of sustainability, which is where we link in with employee training and development; and that we make the best use of those assets. We will have situations where not just the supply chain but the industry itself will have surplus assets because they have worked so hard to get ahead of the game, but those will not necessarily be employed in the most purposeful way. I hope that the Minister hears what I say. There is a problem in the industry and we need to rectify it. I hope that we can use the Bill to at least have a debate on that matter. We may not need to have such a measure in primary legislation, but we need to recognise the problem and try to do something about it.