§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what obligations are placed upon the privatised public utilities with particular reference to water and drainage companies, to maintain accurate records of services in the ground; [7245]
(2) under what arrangements public access to the complete records of adopted sewers installed by private contractors, previously available from the local council highways departments, is maintained. [7246]
§ Angela EagleSections 198 and 199 of the Water Industry Act 1991 require water and sewerage companies to keep records, in the form of maps, of the location of every water main and adopted sewer vested in them and to make this information freely available for inspection at their offices at all reasonable times. The companies are also required to provide local authorities with copies of sewer maps and any modifications to them. There is no obligation for the companies to keep records of connections to water mains or of private sewers or drains.
§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he will take to ensure that decisions on access to water authority and drainage authority information are clearly determined in accordance with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994. [7244]
5W
§ Angela EagleThe provision and availability of information relevant to health and safety is a fundamental requirement of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994. It is therefore an important consideration of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors when determining compliance with the Regulations. Inspectors already give advice or take formal enforcement action in support of this requirement, when appropriate.