Speeches by Newbury.

“You cannot deal with every case, so I would just ask you to go away and look at the customer service journey. It does seem like sometimes there are not regular updates.”

“I will absolutely share that with colleagues who have written to me.”

“The main thing that I wanted to ask you about was customer satisfaction. We know that Severn Trent has seen one of the largest drops in customer satisfaction. When we look at the figures we see the percentages, but it is really important to see the stories that sit behind that. Last week, I wrote to 104 of my colleague…”

“I will move on to my next question. The figures show that, relatively speaking, Severn Trent performs well when it comes to mains repairs, asset outages and reducing leakages, but you have not met your targets for supply interruptions and internal sewer flooding. How would you explain that variance in the health and ma…”

“Before I move on to another set of questions, you mentioned regarding the Trent incident that you held your hands up; you admitted liability. In the case of a separate incident in Sutton Park in Birmingham, that went to Birmingham Crown Court. You were fined £500,000. Raw sewage was dumped in the park. It destroyed rar…”

“If the cost of living is an issue, though, would it not be preferable to keep bills down? Alongside all other water companies, you have asked for enormous increases in customers’ bills. If giving out dividends to customers to help them with the cost of living is part of the consideration, why do you not just lower bill…”

“Thank you for coming this morning, Liv. I represent Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, so along with Julia, I am both a representative in your area and a customer, of course. We wanted to pick up questions around this, because I expect that you want to be as open with your customers as you possibly can. You have answered …”

“The main thing that I wanted to ask you about was customer satisfaction. We know that Severn Trent has seen one of the largest drops in customer satisfaction. When we look at the figures we see the percentages, but it is really important to see the stories that sit behind that. Last week, I wrote to 104 of my colleague…”

“Just moving on to the replacement of water mains, the average lifespan of water mains is between 100 and 125 years. Ofwat has told us that the annual replacement rate of around 0.8% to 1% would be sustainable, but the final determination only commits water companies to 0.4%. What is your average replacement rate? Is it…”

“I will move on to my next question. The figures show that, relatively speaking, Severn Trent performs well when it comes to mains repairs, asset outages and reducing leakages, but you have not met your targets for supply interruptions and internal sewer flooding. How would you explain that variance in the health and ma…”

“Before I move on to another set of questions, you mentioned regarding the Trent incident that you held your hands up; you admitted liability. In the case of a separate incident in Sutton Park in Birmingham, that went to Birmingham Crown Court. You were fined £500,000. Raw sewage was dumped in the park. It destroyed rar…”

“Just moving on to the replacement of water mains, the average lifespan of water mains is between 100 and 125 years. Ofwat has told us that the annual replacement rate of around 0.8% to 1% would be sustainable, but the final determination only commits water companies to 0.4%. What is your average replacement rate? Is it…”

“It is an honour to speak in this debate as the Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase, an area deeply proud of its mining heritage. Collieries were our dominant industry from the mid- 19th century right up until the early 1990s. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) on securing …”

“Do you think that, in reality, inland local authorities are bearing the brunt, but, as you said, they are not getting the recognition or the resources?”

“Yes, absolutely. We just need a bit of co-ordination from the centre to enable everybody to do their job effectively. Lastly, Helen, you predicted about 18 months ago that there could be additional burdens on local authorities as a result of BTOM being brought in, particularly where you have biosecurity as a risk. You …”

“That is concerning in itself. Did you want to add anything, Lucy?”

“Just on that, particularly in terms of resource, do you think that local authorities have the appropriate resource to carry out this work? We have seen reports from the FSA and also the Local Government Association, which have identified that the vast majority of councils are struggling to recruit food safety officers,…”

“Lastly, Helen, you mentioned that inland local authorities are having to clear up the goods that escape through the gaps in the system. Do you think that it is DEFRA that should be grasping the nettle when it comes to challenges like making sure data is shared and that staff are appropriately trained?”

“Before I dive into the questions, I just want to say that, personally, I am really shocked about some of the things you have told us today, in terms of the lack of engagement from DEFRA, particularly during a live biosecurity threat, which we know from past experience could hit our economy, particularly our farming sec…”

“In terms of the mechanisms that the inland local authorities are using to identify and remove these products, what are they, and do you think those are adequate? You have mentioned the inadequacy of the post‑Brexit IT system, for example.”