Ofwat has confirmed that it is delaying publication of its draft PR24 determinations for the water sector until after the General Election.

The water sector regulator was due to publish its initial draft determinations on the AMP8 Business Plans published in October 2023 by the water companies in England and Wales.

Ofwat issued a statement on Friday confirming that the original publication date of 12 June has now been rescheduled for 11 July 2024 following Rishi Sunak’s announcement on 22 May 2024 that the election would take place on 4 July.

Ofwat’s decision is in line with general election guidance issued by the Cabinet Office on the conduct of civil servants in the pre-election period. The guidance applies to all UK civil servants, and the board members and staff of Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and other arms’ length bodies.

The guidance states that the principles underlying the conduct of civil servants in a general election are an extension of those that apply at all times, as set out in the Civil Service Code as follows:

• The basic principle for civil servants is not to undertake any activity that could call into question their political impartiality or that could give rise to criticism that public resources are being used for party political purposes. This principle applies to all staff working in departments.
• Departmental and NDPB activity should not be seen to compete with the election campaign for public attention. The principles and conventions set out in this guidance also apply to public bodies.
• It is also a requirement of the Ministerial Code that Ministers must not use government resources for party political purposes and must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service.

The guidance also says that officials attending public or stakeholder events should decline invitations to events where they may be asked to respond on questions about future government policy or on matters of public controversy.

With regard to House of Commons Select Committees set up by Standing Order, these continue in existence, technically, until the Standing Order is amended or rescinded. In practice, when Parliament is dissolved pending a general election, membership of committees lapses and work on their inquiries ceases.

The point of contact for departments continues to be the Committee Clerk who remains in post to process the basic administrative work of the committee (and prepare for the re-establishment of the Committee in the next Parliament).

The guidance says departments should continue to work, on a contingency basis, on any outstanding evidence requested by the outgoing committee and on any outstanding government responses to committee reports.

Following the election, it will be up to the newly-appointed committee to decide whether to continue with its predecessor committee’s inquiries and whether to publish government responses to its predecessor reports.

The guidance also says that if a new government is formed, all Cabinet and Cabinet committee documents issued to Ministers should be destroyed.

In addition, it advises:

“Decisions on matters of policy, and other issues such as large and/or contentious commercial contracts, on which a new government might be expected to want the opportunity to take a different view from the present government, should be postponed until after the election, provided that such postponement would not be detrimental to the national interest or wasteful of public money…

“Statements that refer to the future intentions of the Government should not be handled by a department and should be treated as party political statements.

“Statements or comments referring to the policies, commitments or perceived intentions of Opposition parties should not be handled by departments.”

The price controls set as part of the 2024 Price Review will still come into effect on 1 April 2025 - despite the later publication date for the regulator's draft determinations.

Ofwat is currently looking into the impact the date change will have on the rest of the price review process and will also reschedule its 'Your Water, Your Say' engagement meetings planned for the draft determinations.