§ Lord Boyd-CarpenterMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what requests they have made to water authorities to reduce proposed increases in their charges; and what responses they have received.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Bellwin)My Lords, following the consultants' review of water authority budgets in February, the authorities were asked to look at possible ways of moderating the increase in charges proposed for 1981–82. As a result, the total of water rates to be collected in England and Wales in 1981–82 will be some £91 million lower than had been planned.
§ Lord Boyd-CarpenterMy Lords, while congratulating my noble friend on succeeding in making water cheaper—as a slight offset, perhaps, to making whisky dearer—may I ask him whether the need for this kind of action by the Government is not a rather vivid illustration of the lack of machinery for consumer representation in the water industry?
§ Lord BellwinThat may be an interesting point to consider, my Lords, but we should have to look at the procedure that exists at present in the water industry, at what it was the Government did to try, if you like, to persuade the industry themselves—because it was they who called in the outside people—and the effect that that had.
§ Lord Harmar-NichollsMy Lords, will the £91 million that is being saved be spread over the whole country or will some sections get a lot and the others get none?
§ Lord BellwinMy Lords, it will be spread over the whole of the country. It will of course vary according to each separate authority.