§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if it remains his policy not to introduce legislation to allow mains water disconnections for non-payment of water bills.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 10 December 1992]: Scottish water authorities may disconnect non-domestic consumers for non-payment of water bills. They have no powers to disconnect domestic consumers under these circumstances.
My right hon. Friend announced the publication of a consultation paper about the future structure of the Scottish water and sewerage industry on 17 November. He said that once the appropriate option for the industry's future structure had been decided all other factors relevant to that option will also be decided. The consultation period does not expire until 29 January 1993.
§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many households currently rely on septic tanks for each regional and island authority;
(2) how many households have been connected to mains drainage for each island and regional authority area for the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 10 December 1992]: This information is not available.
§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many households have been connected to mains water supplies for each of the island and regional authorities for the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 10 December 1992]: The information requested is not held centrally.
§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many households rely on private water supplies for each of the regions and island authorities areas.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 10 December 1992]: From information supplied by local authorities we estimate that there are around 30,000 private supplies in Scotland. The available breakdown by regional and island authority areas is given in the table. No information is available on household numbers.
80W
Authority Estimated number of private supplies Borders 2,415 Central 479 Dumfries and Galloway1 815+
Authority Estimated number of private supplies Fife 358 Grampian 11,638 Highland2 5,294+ Lothian 262 Strathclyde 3,602 Tayside 2,265 Orkney 1,100 Shetland 286 Western Isles 49 1 Numbers in Nithsdale and Stewartry District Council not known. 2 Numbers in Skye and Lochalsh District Council not known.