HC Deb 12 July 1978 vol 953 cc1493-5
12. Mr. Durant

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will ensure that all regional water authorities encourage their consumers to pay their water rates by monthly instalments.

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Mr. Denis Howell)

As the hon. Member will appreciate, we have no powers to direct the water authorities in this way. However, when I met the water authority chairmen on 9th May, I urged them to accept payment by instalments where there would otherwise be hardship. I am glad to say that they assured me they are all prepared to operate such a charging policy.

Mr. Durant

When the Minister has a further meeting with the chairmen of water authorities, will he talk to them about the possibility of using the Post Office as a method of payment of water charges? This would help a number of old-age pensioners. Accepting that direct billing is a good thing, will he discuss with the chairmen the formula that they have now worked out, in which I think the standing charge is far too high and works against the small household, the old-age pensioner and that type of person?

Mr. Howell

I have already discussed with the chairmen the question of using the Post Office. Indeed, I am glad to report that a pilot scheme along those lines by the north-west authority is working very well. I assure the hon. Member that it is being watched by the other regions, too.

I am well aware of the difficulties over direct billing to which the hon. Gentleman has drawn our attention. I am afraid that they are inherent in the Water Act 1973, which excludes the Minister from direct intervention in the method of charging used by water authorities.

Mr. Stoddart

Will my right hon. Friend take every opportunity to point out that the reorganisation of the water authorities by the Conservative Party has been one of the greatest disasters of all time? Is he aware that, as a result of the reorganisation, my constituents and many others are suffering considerable consequences in the form of higher charges and direct billing? Will he do something to ensure that these water authorities, many of which are highly inefficient, are brought under some sort of democratic control?

Mr. Howell

I shall go further than my hon. Friend in saying that the reorganisation of local government, the reorganisation of local authority health services and the reorganisation of water services, taken together, have proved to be catastrophic and an absolute disaster for the country.

Concerning the water authorities, we presented a White Paper to Parliament, and it would be our intention early in the next Parliament to produce proposals at any rate, through the National Water Authority, to get the industry back into some sort of efficiency, with some degree of national parliamentary accountability.

Mr. Alison

Presumably, however, the Minister's intention in the White Paper, and this further reorganisation that he now proposes to improve the previous reorganisation, is to produce a reduction in the rate bills. Will he undertake, therefore, that there will actually be a reduction as a result of the further reorganisation, which was the point raised by the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Stoddart)? Also, in respect of the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, North (Mr. Durant), can the Minister advise us whether the instalments that he has been asking the chairmen of water authorities to introduce will be, as my hon. Friend asked, monthly instalments?

Mr. Howell

The Post Office scheme can be based on weekly payments, which I think all of us would agree would be a very good thing indeed. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the difficulty about any further reorganisation is that it is impossible to calculate its total effect, but I am quite certain that in practical terms it will produce much more efficient control of the water industry than there is at the present time.