§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what notice is given to householders when a water supply is disconnected; what authority water authorities have to obtain prior to such disconnection; and what is the average delay in securing reconnections.
§ Mr. MoynihanThe water industry operates a code of practice designed to ensure that customers in financial difficulties are not cut off if an alternative solution can be found. If disconnection is unavoidable, the general statutory authority (section 38 of the Water Act 1945), empowers water undertakers to cut off supplies if charges have not been paid within seven days of being demanded unless the customer has disputed the bill or the supply is to a tenant whose landlord is in default. Undertakers must notify the local authority within 48 hours of cutting off the supply to an inhabited house. When the householder710W requests disconnections, he must give the undertaker 24 hours notice. Section 80 of the third schedule to the Water Act 1945 requires undertakers, before they begin works which will interfere with the supply of water (except in emergencies), to give reasonable notice to consumers.
§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many households in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years have had water supplies disconnected; and how many of those households included(a) retirement pensioners, (b) the unemployed, (c) young children, (d) invalidity benefit recipients and (c) single parents with young children;
(2) what have been the main reasons causing water to be disconnected from households over the last five years; and what charge is made to householders to reconnect water supplies.
§ Mr. MoynihanThe numbers of households in England disconnected by water authorities for reasons of nonpayment in each of the last five years is as set out:
Number 1983–84 2,521 1984–85 2,052 1985–86 4,212 1986–87 6,450 Information for 1982–83 or details of the type of household involved is not available centrally. Water authority charges for reconnection in such cases ranges from £24 to £42 in 1987–88. Disconnection in other parts of the United Kingdom are matters for the Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.