Speeches by Newbury.

“In January, Bidfood, a food wholesaler and major employer in my constituency, announced overnight that it would derecognise the GMB and Unite the union, removing the ability of thousands of workers across the country to collectively bargain through their trade unions. The unions fear that Bidfood workers could now be l…”

“9. What steps his Department is taking to support trade union recognition in the workplace.”

“Lastly, you mentioned that customer satisfaction has been going up in the last couple of quarters. I appreciate that you are new to your role, but the long-term trend has not been particularly good for Anglian’s customer satisfaction. You have been rising up the ranks in recent years, but only because the scores of oth…”

“This follows on quite nicely from the questions that Andrew was just putting to you. Obviously, the company made certain commitments around severe incidents in 2016. Some questions I have for you relate to incidents that happened just last year. Anglian was responsible for a number of severe sewer flooding incidents in…”

“Investment is welcome and, as you said, that will start to resolve the issue, but it is also a broader point around how the company responds to these incidents when they occur. In February of last year, residents in Hickling in Norfolk reported that untreated sewage was rising into toilets, gardens and sinks. In respon…”

“Absolutely, and I appreciate this was before your time. The answers you have given today have been open and you have been honest with us about the improvements that need to be made, so we really appreciate that. To go back to the incident in Hickling, it was only after a meeting, which was organised by the former MP Du…”

“Yes, absolutely. One of the companies that was giving evidence yesterday put the challenge to us around wet wipes and I totally appreciate that is a massive challenge.”

“Finally, on the Hickling incident, could you also let us know, perhaps in writing after the session, what you have done to compensate those customers and, essentially, make amends to that village that went through a pretty horrific incident, which I am sure you do not want to see.”

“Thank you. I would like to move on to water supply interruptions. The Ofwat target is an average of five minutes and 23 seconds per customer. For Anglian to meet that, I understand it would be a 45% reduction on current performance. For you to meet your sewer flooding target, you would need a reduction of 24%. That is …”

“Just digging into the reasons behind some of that—apologies for the pun—we have heard that replacement rates for assets across the sector should be around 0.8% to 1% to reflect an average lifespan of 100 to 125 years. It seems that that rate is not really being met anywhere across the industry, and the final determinat…”

“Hopefully, in five years’ time it will be a rosier picture and the Committee will have a better picture to paint.”

“That is the reality.”

“The score dropped from 83 in 2020-21 to 77.5 in 2023-24. Why do you think that is?”

“This follows on quite nicely from the questions that Andrew was just putting to you. Obviously, the company made certain commitments around severe incidents in 2016. Some questions I have for you relate to incidents that happened just last year. Anglian was responsible for a number of severe sewer flooding incidents in…”

“Investment is welcome and, as you said, that will start to resolve the issue, but it is also a broader point around how the company responds to these incidents when they occur. In February of last year, residents in Hickling in Norfolk reported that untreated sewage was rising into toilets, gardens and sinks. In respon…”

“Absolutely, and I appreciate this was before your time. The answers you have given today have been open and you have been honest with us about the improvements that need to be made, so we really appreciate that. To go back to the incident in Hickling, it was only after a meeting, which was organised by the former MP Du…”

“Yes, absolutely. One of the companies that was giving evidence yesterday put the challenge to us around wet wipes and I totally appreciate that is a massive challenge.”

“Finally, on the Hickling incident, could you also let us know, perhaps in writing after the session, what you have done to compensate those customers and, essentially, make amends to that village that went through a pretty horrific incident, which I am sure you do not want to see.”

“Thank you. I would like to move on to water supply interruptions. The Ofwat target is an average of five minutes and 23 seconds per customer. For Anglian to meet that, I understand it would be a 45% reduction on current performance. For you to meet your sewer flooding target, you would need a reduction of 24%. That is …”

“Just digging into the reasons behind some of that—apologies for the pun—we have heard that replacement rates for assets across the sector should be around 0.8% to 1% to reflect an average lifespan of 100 to 125 years. It seems that that rate is not really being met anywhere across the industry, and the final determinat…”