Ofwat is considering how it can monitor water company progress on delivering public value and whether there should be a direct role for Ofwat through the regulatory framework.
The regulator shared these thoughts as part of a new discussion paper, accompanied by a report commissioned from Purpose Union and the Impact Institute. It offered that a present, it thinks “of our role as potentially operating across the spectrum of informing, enabling and/or incentivising a greater focus on, or greater delivery of, public value. This could range from bringing the sector together to share insight and learning, and identifying and highlighting (emerging) best practice; to promoting relevant common enablers; and considering if and how we can best encourage companies to better deliver public value through the price review process (as we also explore in our PR24 launch document).”
Elsewhere in the paper, Ofwat shared that it is considering public value along the dimensions of outcomes and enablers/enabling culture. It observed that different companies are focusing on different enablers to further embed a culture with public value thinking at its core and that there is a spectrum in how this is being articulated. It said: “Ultimately our ambition is for public value thinking to permeate the culture of the sector more deeply and systematically; and for the question to be asked at every meaningful point, whether core services can be delivered differently in a way that creates greater public value.”
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