§ Mr. Holtasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the regional water authorities in England achieved their 1983–84 performance aims.
§ Mr. GowWater authorities agreed performance aims with Ministers in the form of limits to their real operating costs in 1983–84. The performance of the English water authorities against their 1983–84 aims was as follows:
£ million 1979–80 prices (Operating costs of water supply, sewerage sewage treatment and disposal) Authority Performance Aim Outturn per cent, deviation North West 104.7 102.2 -2.4 Northumbrian 27.1 26.1 -3.7 Severn Trent 114.4 115.7 +1.1 Yorkshire 68.5 68.7 +0.3 Anglian 69.6 66.2 -4.9 Thames 162.0 159.1 -1.8 Southern 43.0 41.4 -3.7 Wessex 26.5 26.5 0.0 South West 21.7 22.0 +1.4 England 637.5 627.9 -1.5 I am satisfied that there has been a significant improvement in the efficiency of water authorities in 1983–84, demonstrated by the fact that they improved on their collective aims by nearly £10 million (1.5 per cent.). However, I am disappointed at the failure of the Severn Trent, South-West and Yorkshire water authorities to meet their aims and will be studying their performance particularly closely in future.