§ 28. Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will take steps to enable water undertakers to make refunds of water rates, in the same way as local authorities may refund general rates, when overpayment has resulted from a mistake in assessment over a period of years.
§ Sir K. JosephI will consider how to deal with this at the next opportunity of legislating on water charges.
§ Dame Irene WardI am sure my right hon. Friend will agree that the case that I sent him showed that some elderly people had to wait a very long time to get back some money that was their just due. Is my right hon. Friend aware that I am rather disappointed that he would not agree to my introducing a Ten-Minute Rule Bill? How long have we to wait to have the deficiencies of this legislation brought up to date?
§ Sir K. JosephI hope to make a statement on water charges soon, and legislation may arise from that. I had to advise my hon. Friend that the matter was rather too complicated, with too many implications, for it to be suitable for a Ten-Minute Rule Bill.