Speeches by Reynolds.

“We cannot answer that question, I’m afraid. We cannot say now that there would not be circumstances in the future. Of course we cannot say that. The reason we have the Water Industry Act 1991 that sets out these two different scenarios is for a case where this might come to pass, but we cannot say now what will happen …”

“I would have to be satisfied that one of those conditions were met to take that step.”

“I always agree with my Ministers, and I think she has been in touch since with setting out the detail on this. This is quite a tricky area. There are two legal circumstances in which you can have special administration, and they are tightly defined in law.”

“Yes. The Government expects water companies to comply not only with the letter, but also with the spirit of the law that we passed earlier this year. As you know, that is that those in executive decision-making positions in a water company that is polluting our waterways—CEOs, CFOs—should not get bonuses.”

“I do not think that anyone is suggesting that. We are carefully considering the consortium’s proposal. That is a very sensitive stage, and I cannot get into the detail of any of that.”

“Thames Water and other water companies know what their legal obligations are and the regulators will hold them to account for that.”

“All water companies must meet their legal obligations to both their customers and the environment. Top of mind for the issue with Thames Water is making sure that customers get a fair deal and better outcomes. We are working closely with Ofwat on the consortium’s proposals. I cannot go into any detail about it, as you …”

“I thank the Committee for the report, and I know that Minister Hardy came before you recently. We are still developing the White Paper, but it is broad in scope, and it will set out the direction of travel for the Government in response to the Independent Water Commission. It will lay the ground for the Bill that will …”

“They need to comply with the law at all times, and have legal obligations in this regard, so the Environment Agency will be holding them to that.”

“I need to wait for the investigation from the Environment Agency as it is its responsibility, but we will be looking in detail at what they uncover and asking some of the same questions that you are rightly asking.”

“As you know, we have banned bonuses for water company bosses found to be polluting our waterways through the Water (Special Measures) Act.”

“Absolutely unacceptable, indeed.”

“Yes, it is shocking and it is extremely disappointing. I put on the record my thanks to you, as ever, for being such a doughty representative for your area, but also to the volunteers who have been helping the cleaning up. We need to learn from this. I know that the Environment Agency it is conducting an investigation,…”

“We can come back to you.”

“That is a very good question. David, do you want to come in on that?”

“It will be broad, and we are looking across the piece at how we can best leverage this money to help those communities.”

“Sure. We have just finished a consultation on extending restrictions within 42 English MPAs, marine protected areas. We are doing that in a careful way that follows the science. David, do you want to say something?”

“We want to look at new technology and equipment to modernise fleets. We want to look at training and skills. We also want to look at promoting and supporting the seafood sector, which obviously will benefit from any agreement we get on SPS because at the moment it is either very difficult or, frankly, in some cases, im…”

“Angela Eagle is leading the work on this, but I have also met with Mike Cohen from the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations. The fishing coastal growth fund is at the top of the Committee’s discussions and we are still working on the details of how that works. We are looking at the Pride in Place MHCLG fund…”

“Let us take this away and come back to you and tell you when that is going to happen.”