HC Deb 18 May 1994 vol 243 cc798-9
6. Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received concerning disconnections of domestic water supply.

The Minister for the Environment and Countryside (Mr. Robert Atkins)

My right hon. Friend receives representations regularly.

Mr. Foulkes

The Minister will agree that it is a disgrace that, at the end of the 20th century in England and Wales, nearly 250 families have their water supply cut off every week. Does he agree that as it will continue to be illegal in Scotland for water to be disconnected, it would be sensible to apply that to England and Wales as well?

Mr. Atkins

I cannot comment on what happens in Scotland—that is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. Disconnections have been available since the Water Act 1945, so they are hardly new, but the number of disconnections is going down regularly each year.

Mr. Dickens

Does my hon. Friend agree that a "no disconnect" policy would be a "no pay" policy, that most disconnections are reconnected within 48 hours while the remainder occur in empty properties and that water boards give people many options to pay? What on earth are we talking about?

Mr. Atkins

My hon. Friend will be delighted to know, as I am, that the area that supplies water to our constituents had a survey in November last year among well over 1,000 representative householders, 82 per cent. of whom said that they wanted the disconnection policy maintained.

Mr. Chris Smith

However, is not it a demonstration of peculiar incompetence even for this Government that the Minister tells us that disconnection is essential in England and Wales, while on 14 April the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland not only said that disconnections should remain illegal in Scotland, but placed a clause in the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Bill specifically to that effect? Should not the Government be saying the same thing everywhere in Britain: that the disconnection of domestic water supplies—the removal of the means to life and health—has no place in a civilised society?

Mr. Atkins

I am an Englishman and I can speak only for England. In England, for which I have responsibility, the number of disconnections is going down. According to the regional company responsible for water supplies in the north-west, the vast majority of its customers want the disconnection policy to be maintained. I must remind the House that the policy to allow for disconnections was included in the Water Act 1945, so nothing has changed.

Mr. Clifton-Brown

Does my hon. Friend agree with my experience of dealing with constituents who need to be disconnected that the water companies generally deal with them very sympathetically? Does he also agree that if people do not pay, the water companies have to increase their charges for everyone else to make up for the shortfall?

Mr. Atkins

In the present circumstances, a court judgment must be made and only if the arrears are still outstanding is there the possibility of a disconnection order being made. That is an exhaustive procedure and, as I have already told the House, the number of disconnections is decreasing annually. That policy is, apparently, supported by water users and consumers, who wish it to be maintained.