Members of the House of Lords will discuss the primary objectives of the Water (Special Measures) Bill this week during its second reading on Wednesday 9 October.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 4 September 2024.
During second reading, members will discuss the main topics in the Bill and draw attention to concerns or specific areas where they believe amendments/ changes will be needed.
Via the Water (Special Measures) Bill the Government is seeking to strengthen the power of water industry regulators and put failing water companies under special measures. To date the Government has not published an impact assessment.
The bill includes provisions to:
- enable the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) to block the payment of bonuses to chief executives and directors if water companies fail to meet specific standards
- establish new statutory requirements for water companies to publish annual pollution incident reduction plans and provide timely and accessible information on sewage discharges from emergency overflows
- change the maximum sentence available for impeding investigations by regulators to include imprisonment
- enable the introduction of new automatic penalties for offences committed by water companies and give regulators (Ofwat, the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Drinking Water Inspectorate) new powers to recover costs for their enforcement work
- make changes to the special administration regime for water companies to ensure Ofwat and government ministers are notified ahead of any winding up petitions
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour), Lords Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will open the debate and respond on behalf of the government.
Contributing members are expected to include:
- Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative), vice president of the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA)
- Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat), advisory board member of River Action
- Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour), chair of the Labour Climate and Environment Forum.
Click here to watch the debate live on Wednesday 9th October starting 3.00pm
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