Two thirds of construction companies admit that they pay their own suppliers late while one in three have come close to going out of business due to late payments, a survey has revealed.

At least two high-profile consortia including two large pension funds are set to compete for the UK water assets of French firm Veolia Environnement.

The Competition Commission (CC) has today (23 April) provisionally cleared South Staffs Water's completed acquisition of Cambridge Water.

Ofwat has published further guidance on how the water companies will have to consult their customers on their business plan proposals for 2015-20 – however, the water industry regulator says that “some issues will only become clear as the price-setting process progresses.”

Water minister Richard Benyon has suggested that it is time for Britain to create a national water grid, according to a report in the Sunday Times.