British Water launches Supply Chain Taskforce

British Water is today launching a new Supply Chain Taskforce which will pursue better outcomes for the supply community on the priority areas identified by a survey of members: procurement, innovation and the cyclicality associated with the AMP rounds.

The taskforce will be a six to 12 month project with defined deliverables, including to address blockers to better outcomes for water supply chain companies.

Speaking at a British Water meeting on Friday, Shaun Stevens, former chair of the organisation’s UK Forum, explained that in contrast to previous initiatives, the emphasis this time would be on mitigation where feasible and limiting negative effects, rather than trying to solve issues in their entirety. He said the arrival of new chief executive at Ofwat, together with Covid-related exposure of weaknesses in current arrangements, presented an opportunity to have another attempt at addressing these perennial issues.

A meeting to kick off the work will be held this afternoon. There will be three project teams sitting under an expert support group, and initial outputs are expected by the end of October.