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Flood and Water Management Bill

I welcome the work that other Members have done in Committee and it is good to see the Bill back to complete its remaining stages so early, as that bodes well for its passing through the other place and into legislation. I particularly welcome the addition of clause 44, which fulfils the request made by a number of Members on Second Reading, including myself, for an examination of the debt issue. I shall move on swiftly, before I am told that this is not a Third Reading debate. I welcome the product of another discussion in Committee—the one on social tariffs—and the work that the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) has done, alongside Labour Members, in promoting new clause 22. I understand that new clause 22 is modest in its extent—it certainly is as far as fulfilling the Walker review and meeting the challenges in the south-west are concerned—but it is more welcome than the somewhat curmudgeonly comments made by Conservative Members. It gives clarity to something for which there is a great deal of pressure. Legislation needs to provide the regulator, at an early stage, with the ability to allow water undertakers to introduce some of the novel ways that they have been trying out, so as to ensure that there are methods that allow customers in vulnerable situations and those under great pressure in paying their water bills to get back into payment habits, to stop building up debt and to contribute at a level that is possible for them. So, I welcome the work done in Committee, but I wish to seek an assurance from the Minister because this provision is modest. If my understanding is correct, it is simply an intra-regional arrangement, rather than an inter-regional one such as would be needed to fulfil some of the recommendations of the Walker review. I hope that its welcome inclusion in the Bill in no way diminishes the Government's commitment to examine the full range of measures that could assist in tackling affordability problems, which are nowhere more acute than in the south-west region, in which I live. The Walker report put on the record for the first time the fact that the extent of the under-investment in the region's sewerage at the time of privatisation in the 1980s was £650 million. This new clause will in no way begin to address that. I thus seek an assurance from the Minister, because I was slightly apprehensive about his comment that it could be another two years before we have this opportunity again. I welcome what the Minister said about the necessity for a review of Ofwat and its powers, and the way in which Walker envisages new charging and metering arrangements working would certainly bring that in its train. Indeed, I met the regulator earlier today to discuss how she is progressing with the Minister's welcome request for her to proceed with the examination of those aspects of the Walker review and the options that it set out for addressing the pressing affordability problems in the south-west. I am more convinced than ever that we will need a range of regulatory and Government measures, and not just the narrow ones envisaged in new clause 22, to put right this 20-year pain that we have been experiencing. I support the new clause, but I seek the Minister's reassurance that it does not diminish the Government's appetite for introducing further early proposals to implement other necessary aspects of the review. I want briefly to touch on new clauses 16 and 17, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew). The Minister's comments on the skills issue were very welcome. Notwithstanding the contribution that Unison has made to putting this on the agenda, he and I met some GMB shop stewards in a meeting that was lively for both of us. I was there in my role as chair of the all-party group on water. We were challenged to do things that I do not think we would begin to consider, such as addressing the skills issue by renationalising the water industry. One had to have considerable sympathy with the views that they expressed. They were worried about the pressures arising from what is broadly seen as a pretty tough settlement in PR09. They were also very worried about the investment in skills, development and the work force when everything else gives, in some companies more than others. I welcome what the Minister said and his assurances that that issue was on his agenda and that he was talking to the Minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs. However, although I am hopeful that we can better align these issues, as has been done in the energy industry—I have seen some very good work done along these lines—if that does not happen the early advent of another water Bill will keep the minds of people who are in charge of the water undertakings focused on getting a move on. Otherwise, some of us will hope to be in a position to bring forward some further thinking along the lines set out by my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud in new clause 16. As my hon. Friend said in his remarks on new clause 17, innovation is important in addressing some of the drought problems confronting the industry—not, perhaps, in the part of the country that I come from, but in some of the more eastern parts of the country. On show in a reception in the House of Commons were some of the proposals that are coming forward. They require quite a lot of investment and certainty for a number of years ahead. My hon. Friend made points about the length of time involved and the periodic price review period, as well as about the way that that militates against such decisions being taken in a sensible way. In the all-party water group we have debated the impact of the welcome 25-year water management plans and the strategic statements that are now made, but we almost need more than that. There has been quite a lot of discussion inside and outside this place about whether we need perhaps to review the length of the price review period, which is five years, and about whether that is long enough. It has the perverse sort of outcomes that were outlined by my hon. Friend in his introduction of new clause 17. There would certainly have to be protections for consumers on pricing, but if we can get more sensible, value-for-money, long-term decisions in the investment procedure, that will pay dividends for consumers, too. It gives the water undertakings greater capacity to make sensible, value-for-money decisions. My hon. Friend described that as "levelling out." In conclusion, we might want to return to new clause 17 in a future Bill, if note is not taken of it through the methods outlined by the Minister in his introductory speech. I greatly welcome new clause 22, and will certainly support the Government on it.