Contributions
1,563 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRivers, Lakes and Seas: Water QualityIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) not only for securing this debate but for her…15 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Members for Westmorland and Lonsdale and for Witney for tabling new clause 22. As the hon. Member for Witney says, we have already had a debate on this issue. I…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Gentleman for tabling new clause 15. We fully support greater involvement of citizen science to hold water companies to account. I thank them for all the work…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight that the pollution caused in the Norfolk broads and in many other areas does not come from water companies alone. As has been discussed,…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale for tabling the new clauses. It is always nice to have a conversation about the beautiful chalk streams and national parks in…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I understand the intent of new clause 11. The location and health of a water company’s assets is key to ensuring their maintenance and improvement. Under section 199 of the Water…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Epping Forest for tabling new clause 3, which would require a water company to reduce customer bills by an equivalent amount to the total monetary…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)May I say—often said, not always meant—that it is indeed a pleasure to serve under your chairwomanship, Dr Huq? I thank the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale for the…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale once again for his thorough consideration of the Bill. I will turn first to new clause 7, which was tabled in his name and…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I will quickly note the constructive and nice way in which the hon. Member for Epping Forest is taking part in these debates. I also want to come up with more dentistry analogies,…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for his helpful intervention to look at what the borrowing and debt limits should be. We think that placing new borrowing limits on companies at this late…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I respect the hon. Gentleman’s contributions on matters of finance, and I recognise his knowledge in this area. However, I think he would probably acknowledge—even if not…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Epping Forest for tabling the new clause, which would implement a limit on borrowing by water companies. I note that Baroness Hayman had multiple…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Epping Forest for tabling new clause 2, which seeks to establish a water restoration fund in legislation. I accept his invitation to do better than the…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)Well, have a go again then.14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I wonder whether there has been some confusion, given that the debate on chalk streams comes later on.14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I thank all hon. Members for their contributions. Amendment 20, tabled by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale, seeks to make all provisions in the Bill come into force on…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)To be clear, this is literally just a point of process. The provision, which is not currently available in law, says that in the event of an application to the court for a SAR,…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I hope this clause will be a little less fractious than the last one—it is pretty straightforward. If a water or waste water company is about to go insolvent, it can make a…14 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I will speak to amendments 11 and 12, both of which were tabled by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale. I welcome the opportunity to bust some myths and add some facts to…14 Jan 2025