Speeches by Tufnell.

“So you were just unlucky in terms of the timing of being made CEO?”

“Can I touch on the local resilience forum, Mr Hinton? There have been lots of previous incidents where this has happened. If you look back to 2022, I think you had 3,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells with an affected water supply for four to five days. In June 2023, you had thousands of customers across various locatio…”

“We can break it down. Nitrates and extreme weather events make water treatment more expensive. That is one of the things we talked about at length with South East Water, where it was all about investment and the need for investment, which David kept coming back to. Does the DWI have a sense of how expensive the costs w…”

“That is very helpful. Finally, taking a step back from everything, has the work of the Independent Water Commission stalled progress in respect of other changes that could have been made for drinking water?”

“No, I am just trying to make a bit of progress. I have two more questions for you. What you have been saying has been gold dust, but I am conscious that I have taken half an hour, and the Chair is probably giving me eyes—I am avoiding looking at him.”

“On microplastics, in respect of there not being any standards, I appreciate that there is no recommendation for them from the WHO, but what is your organisation’s perspective on that?”

“Do you think that there should be bans or stricter standards?”

“What about the risk in respect of the need for speed? If we think about lead pipes, for example, there are reports that 3 million lead pipes still exist across water companies, and that only 4% are estimated to have been replaced in the past five years. That is a health risk to the wider population. If you are looking …”

“I am conscious of time, but in terms of the raw, untreated water, you talked about the regulator and there being no regulations on the safety of pre-treatment water. Is that something that is on your radar?”

“That would be very helpful, thank you. I will move on to the Welsh female prisoners issue, which we have touched upon before. My colleague, Ann Davies, and my constituency neighbours have spoken about the challenges regarding those Welsh women who are serving in Eastwood or Styal. Obviously, the UK Government are respo…”

“Do you think that that is effective?”

“I am grateful.”

“I have some questions on healthcare. It was interesting in your evidence to the Committee earlier that—correct me if I am wrong—on the UK Government being out of step with Welsh Government, you cited administration of Buvidal, for examples, for that cross-border element. Building on that—directed at both of you—what co…”

“That is what we are trying to drill down into, essentially, because the numbers for women, as you have set out, are incredibly high. We are trying to understand whether the Welsh nationality is a factor, in terms of that linkage. It is difficult to understand the extent to which that is a factor, because we do not have…”

“Okay, so you might be able to write to the Committee on that?”

“Is that trend, or potential link, in the data—relating to the distance from one’s community, family and loved ones and self-harm incidents in women’s prisons—something you are exploring or grappling with internally?”

“Okay. Has that figure increased since—when did that come in? Did that come in in conjunction with 2014, and has it been increasing?”

“Okay, so those funds would come in addition to the £2.5 million, irrespective of the money that also goes to the Welsh Government and then gets allocated to the health board?”

“Yes, £2.5 million.”

“Can I touch on the recurrent funding, which has been in place since 2014? In the context of what we have been talking about with numbers and plans for expansion, do you think that that amount should increase? That is directed more to the Minister.”