19. Mrs. Butlerasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what arrangements he is making to ensure that the provision of an adequate supply of pure water in the Greater London area is not jeopardised during the period of transference of responsibility from the Metropolitan Water Board to the proposed Greater London Authority.
§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. Geoffrey Rippon)The transfer of responsibility for water supply from one authority to another has taken place recently in many parts of the country without any deterioration in the service to consumers. My right hon. Friend is confident that this will be achieved in London if his proposal to 1189 transfer responsibility from the Metropolitan Water Board to the Greater London Council is put into effect.
Mrs. ButlerBearing in mind the importance of a pure water supply in a vast conurbation like London, may I ask whether the hon. Gentleman has appreciated that more than just a change of administrative responsibility is involved and that there is a seriously unsettling effect on the staffs which may impair the technical efficiency of the service if it continues? Is it not true that the reorganisation to which he refers as taking place in other parts of the country is to bring water authorities into line with the present organisation of the Metropolitan Water Board?
§ Mr. RipponI am sure that there will be no effect on the purity of the water supply. Matters such as transfers of staff and premises will, of course, have to be gone into in detail in the usual way, in exactly the same way as in the rest of the country.
§ Mr. M. StewartBut the Metropolitan Water Board is not the only water supplier in London. If the transfer is to be carried through at all, would it not be wiser to transfer to the proposed Greater London Council all the water suppliers in its area?
§ Mr. RipponI am sure that my right lion. Friend will bear that proposal in mind.