§ 31. Mr. Hayasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what progress has been made in extending the provisions of the Waterworks Code contained in the Third Schedule to the Water Act, 1945; to how many water undertakers that code has been extended at the nearest convenient date; and to how many undertakers the code does not at present extend.
§ Mr. DeedesUp to 31st July, 1953, the provisions of the whole of the Third Schedule had been extended, for all practical purposes, to 11 water undertakers and parts of these provisions to 34 water undertakers. The code had not, at that date, been extended to 369 water undertakings, though its provisions had been applied, in part, for the purposes of particular Orders, to a large number of these. Certain parts mentioned in the Fourth Schedule to the Act were, of course, extended generally to all 628 undertakings operating under the Public Health Act, 1936, by Section 31 of the 1945 Act.
§ Mr. HayIs my hon. Friend aware that this is not particularly rapid progress, and that so long as there is any uncertainty in the areas of the different water undertakers as to whether or not this particular code applies, the problem gets more and more difficult? Will he do all that he can to expedite the application of this code to all water undertakers as soon as he can?
§ Mr. DeedesAs my hon. Friend is perhaps aware, there have been certain difficulties in getting on with this matter faster, but these difficulties have now been cleared away, and we hope that fresh progress will be made very shortly.