§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment why he has decided to increase the number of ministerial appointees on the Thames Water Authority from 12 to 17; what 94W consultations were undertaken before the decision was reached; and if he will list the names and principal qualifications of the additional members whom he has now appointed.
§ Mr. Denis Howell:My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State decided to appoint further members to the Thames Water Authority to bring the benefit of a wider range of experience to this Authority that serves over 11½ million people. Section 3 of the Water Act 1973 empowers the Secretary of State to appoint as many members as he thinks fit to a water authority, provided that the total numbers of members appointed by Ministers is less than the number of those appointed by local authorities. Even with 17 members appointed by the Secretary of State, the local authority appointees are in a majority of 14 on the Thames Water Authority. No formal consultations prior to the decision were necessary and none took place. The names and principal qualifications of the five additional members are as follows:
R. H. Bristow, Chairman, Reading District Council; member of the former Thames Valley Water Board.P. D. Bromley, Member of the former Thames Conservancy and Oxfordshire Water Board.A. C. Darlow. MA DPA MInstSWM, former Deputy Director of Public Health Engineering, GLC: member of the Policy Committee on the Thames Barrier Scheme.A. Diamond. OBE, JP, Member, Industrial Tribunals 1965–74.J. T. Horton, MBE, JP, former Chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board; former deputy Chairman of the Council of the Water Research Association; member of the former Thames Conservancy.