EFRA Committee to scrutinise water reform

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has launched a new inquiry to run alongside the independent review of the water sector being headed by Sir Jon Cunliffe.

Reforming the water sector will be a long-term inquiry running over months and considering a wide range of issues, including the financial stability of the water sector, support for vulnerable consumers, water security, sewage overflows and agricultural pollution, and emergency responses to flooding, outages and drought.

The Committee said it would also examine Government work taking place in this area, including the progress of the Water (Special Measures) Bill and the work of the Independent Commission into the water sector.

The MPs have asked Southern Water to appear alongside consumer representatives on 21 January to give evidence on its recent water outages, as well as to explain how increased revenues under its final determination for PR24 will be used to “address the systematic problems facing the company”. The Committee also intend to “probe the adequacy of its corporate and financial arrangements, and assess the impact that recent legislative changes on dividends, bonuses and performance issues will have on its ability to operate".