§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of staff employed by regional water authorities at the time of their formation, and in January.
§ Mr. FoxThe earliest date for which figures are available for numbers of regional water authority employees is 31 March 1975. At that date, the total number of employees of the English water authorities on a full-time equivalent basis, and excluding temporary employees, was 53,807. The comparable figure for 31 March 1980 was 56,527. No figures are available for January.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the average percentage increase in the salaries of (a) non-industrial and (b) industrial staff of regional water authorities in each of the past three years.
§ Mr. FoxThe most up-to-date information available to central Government is from the Department of Employment's new earnings survey as follows:
501WNo information has yet been published for 1979–80.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what reduction there has been (a) in the value of new construction work by regional water authorities and (b) in the number of staff employed on such work in the past 12 months.
§ Mr. Fox(a) Provisional returns show that there has been a 10 per cent. reduction in new construction work by the English water authorities in real terms from 1978–79 to 1979–80.
(b) No separate manpower records are maintained for this purpose. Much of this work is supervised by staff of agent district councils and consulting engineers not directly employed by the water authorities.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the principal changes in individual discharge consent conditions that have been made or proposed by regional water authorities in anticipation of the implementation of part II of the Control of Pollution Act 1974.
§ Mr. FoxThe reasons for the review of consents and the principles upon which it is based are set out in the NWC publication "River Water Quality, the Next Stage: Review of Discharge Consent Conditions" (April 1978), a copy of which is in the Library. It is not practical to list the changes being made in individual consents, as the number involved is too great, but the paramount requirement is that the review must not result in any deterioration of river quality.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what powers regional water authorities have to engage in consultancy work overseas.
§ Mr. FoxWater authorities at present rely on paragraph 2 of schedule 3 to the Water Act 1973.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of overseas borrowings by regional water authorities since their formation in 1974.
502W
§ Mr. FoxTo date, the nine English regional water authorities have borrowed a total of £822.2 million sterling equivalent from overseas sources.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what control he has exercised over the expenditure of regional water authorities during the past 12 months; with what result; and what limits he has applied to their projected expenditure over the next two years.
§ Mr. FoxExternal financing limits are set for each water authority and their budgets must be framed within these limits. Capital allocations for 1979–80 and 1980–81 at November 1978 prices were notified to authorities on 13 July and 9 October 1979 respectively. Limits on commitments for 1981–82 and 1982–83, at the rates of 85 per cent. and 70 per cent. respectively of approved capital programmes were notified to authorities on 12 May 1980. Authority external financing and capital expenditure are monitored by means of monthly returns. Provisional returns indicate that capital expenditure totalled £423 million in 1979–80 at November 1978 prices, £15 million less than the total allocated figure.