§ Ms AthertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria were used in making the decision to close the Exeter office of Watervoice; and what process was followed. [185771]
§ Mr. MorleyThe original decision to close the Exeter office was based on a recommendation made by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in its report on the organisation and regional structure of the Consumer Council for Water. PwC recommended that the offices in Exeter and Bristol currently serving the south west and Wessex regions should be merged into one office and located either in one of the existing offices or at a new site in Taunton.
However, we have since given very careful consideration to a number of representations received and reviewed the decision to close or relocate regional offices. We concluded that against the background of the representations and the current periodic review of water prices, the benefits for water customers in maintaining the existing regional system of consumer representation outweighs the benefits of rationalisation at this time.
We now intend to leave it to the new CCW to consider PwC's recommendations and to decide, in the light of future circumstances what changes, if any, it wishes to make to its regional structure.