Speeches by Hardy.

“Clause 10 requires payment by water companies. It is fair and reasonable that the regulator should recover costs associated with its regulatory functions. Ofwat will consider the regulator’s proposals to determine which costs are appropriate to be passed on. The impact assessment, which I have mentioned in previous deb…”

“Thank you, Dr Huq, for giving me the opportunity to speak on clause 10, which is one of my favourites. The costs for Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales enforcement activities are paid by the taxpayer via grant in aid. The clause broadens existing charge-making powers, allowing the Environment Agency and Nat…”

“As I am sure the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale will agree, the Government heard the strong support in the other place for adding a further environmental duty to Ofwat’s core duties to support the Government in making progress against our environmental targets. I pay tribute to Baroness Hayman for her work on…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. Modifying the licences individually is both expensive and time consuming, which is why we are hoping to modernise and harmonise the process under this clause. It is crucial that automatic penalties under clause 7 can be applied to abstraction and impounding offences, so this…”

“Clause 8 grants the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers the power to introduce conditions or general rules subject to which water industry abstraction and impounding licences will have effect. This provision is needed to ensure that automatic penalties under clause 7 can be applied to abstraction and impounding offe…”

“It is good to start the day off with a bit of unity in the Committee Room and everyone agreeing. In terms of which offences the automatic penalties will apply to, we are looking at targeting minor to moderate offending. The purpose behind the clause, and much of the Bill, is to change the culture of the water industry.…”

“I feel as though we are comparing apples and pears here. The point I was making about the 25% at the next price review was around water quality monitors. The hon. Gentleman was talking about the monitoring on emergency overflows, and he was referring to the data on the speed at which they would be installed.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers, and if I may I will start by wishing everyone a happy new year. I thank members of the Committee for the engagement with the Bill they have shown, and I also thank all the environmental groups, everyone who submitted evidence, and Members in the other place…”

“We expect the commission to report to the Government in June. I reassure the hon. Member that when I respond at the end of every session, I will go through each and every amendment in turn. I turn to Government amendments 1 and 2 to clause 1. The Government have carefully considered all non-Government amendments made i…”

“I have to say that it is slightly disappointing that we do not have a full contingent for such an important Bill Committee, which matters so much to people up and down the country. There could be personal reasons, so let us reserve judgment, but it is a little surprising to me too.”

“I am pleased that we have that on the record. This is an important Bill, and I encourage everyone to attend. I believe, first, that the Lords amendment is duplicative of the work that Ofwat is already doing and, secondly, that it will pre-empt any forthcoming reforms from the water commission.”

“The hon. Gentleman tempts me to look into the future before we have had the water commission. To clarify—just so there is no misunderstanding—the commission will not amend this Bill but will produce another piece of legislation that looks at everything.”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Information will be coming out shortly about how each and every Member across the House can contribute to that review. Government amendment 2 seeks to remove the amendment that requires rules made by Ofwat under clause 1 to be brought into force by statutory instrument within six mon…”

“I am desperately searching for a dental analogy. I have already outlined to the hon. Gentleman that we tabled this amendment to protect the independence of Ofwat, protect investor confidence and ensure that rules under clause 1 are effective and in place as soon as possible. It is therefore necessary to remove Lord Rob…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his helpful question. Yes, we obviously have regular conversations with Ofwat to ensure that it is capable of delivering everything here. There is an impact assessment on the table in the room, if the hon. Member would like to look at exactly how that all works out. Amendment 18, also tab…”

“I understand the hon. Gentleman’s intention, which fits within the bigger picture of how we change the culture and improve trust in the industry. On these specific points, there is already legislation in place. However, I take his wider point that there is no trust and a lot of anger, and we need to do something around…”

“Before I start my response to this group, I just want to note that there has been considerable discussion on the monitoring of the volume of discharges during this debate. In the interests of time, I will respond to those points when we debate amendment 13 next week, if that is agreeable to everyone. I thank hon. Membe…”

“I thank all hon. Members for their thoughts on this set of amendments. I would also like to pay tribute to all of the citizen scientists—in fact, many Members have paid tribute to them—and the incredible work that they do as volunteers, going out there to discover the true state of many of our rivers, lakes and seas. I…”

“I am very happy to give a breakdown of the numbers that we have worked out. To reiterate the point I made before the intervention, that is why the Government believe that it is the measurement of water quality that is required. Water companies have been instructed to begin installing continuous water quality monitors f…”

“I want to make sure that I am not giving the hon. Gentleman inaccurate information, so I will find out the answer to his question and return to it, if that is okay. I do not want to give him the wrong information. The main point we are making is that it is not the volume that is having the impact; it is the toxicity. W…”