The
Committee consisted of the following
Members:Bacon,
Mr. Richard (South Norfolk)
(Con) †
Berry,
Roger (Kingswood)
(Lab) †
Borrow,
Mr. David S. (South Ribble)
(Lab) †
Cairns,
David (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland)†
Chaytor,
Mr. David (Bury, North)
(Lab) †
Cormack,
Sir Patrick (South Staffordshire)
(Con) †
Foster,
Mr. Michael (Worcester)
(Lab) †
Fraser,
Mr. Christopher (South-West Norfolk)
(Con) †
Hermon,
Lady (North Down)
(UUP) †
Keeble,
Ms Sally (Northampton, North)
(Lab) †
McCrea,
Dr. William (South Antrim)
(DUP) †
Morley,
Mr. Elliot (Scunthorpe)
(Lab) †
Norris,
Dan (Wansdyke) (Lab) †
Reid,
Mr. Alan (Argyll and Bute)
(LD) †
Robertson,
Mr. Laurence (Tewkesbury)
(Con) †
Spellar,
Mr. John (Warley)
(Lab) †
Trickett,
Jon (Hemsworth)
(Lab) Geoffrey Farrar, Committee
Clerk † attended the
Committee First
Standing Committeeon Delegated
LegislationTuesday 13
June
2006[John
Cummings in the
Chair]Draft Water and Sewerage Services (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 20064.30
pm
The
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (David
Cairns): I beg to move,
That the Committee has
considered the Draft Water and Sewerage Services (Miscellaneous
Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order
2006. I welcome you to
the Chair, Mr. Cummings. It is a pleasure to serve under you,
particularly as this is the first order that I have attempted to steer
through a Committee since becoming the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State for Northern Ireland last month.
The order
represents a small but necessary element of the Government’s
ambitious programme of investment and reform of water and sewerage
services in Northern Ireland. That programme will introduce measures to
improve the quality of our water, better protect our environment,
provide new rights for consumers and deliver sustained investment in
our infrastructure. The substance of the reform will be introduced in
an order later this year. I launched consultation on that draft
legislation on 1 June and I should like to take this opportunity to
encourage all interested parties to submit their responses. I give an
undertaking that all such responses will be considered very
carefully. This order
paves the way for wider reform in two areas. First, it enables the
sharing of information to establish a customer billing and contact
system which ensures that automatic assistance is provided to those who
need it most. Secondly, it makes amendments to the Department of the
Environment’s powers under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order
1999 to facilitate new and comprehensive controls on the abstraction
and impounding of water. Those controls will also enable the Department
to meet its European obligations, particularly in relation to the
habitats directive.
Taking the
first of these issues, the Government have consulted widely about how
we can sustain the investment needed to develop world-class water and
sewerage services. As has been said on many occasions, we see no
feasible alternative to the introduction of domestic charges but we
have taken additional time to think longer about affordability for
low-income households in light of the concerns raised. I refer
particularly to the concerns raised in an Adjournment debate that was
secured in March 2005 where the issue of affordability for those on low
incomes was a primary
concern. Lady
Hermon (North Down) (UUP): I, too, welcome you to the
Chair, Mr. Cummings. Would the Minister enlighten the Committee about
the Government’s proposal to introduce water
metering?
David
Cairns: Yes, there will be particular reference to water
metering in the main order which is out for consultation at the moment.
Essentially, it will be a requirement for new build houses to have
water meters installed. Secondly, we will make water meters available
to any pensioner who wishes to have one installed. There is clearly a
case for water metering of every household, but to do that in the short
term would be prohibitively expensive. None the less, we are taking
steps in that direction, as will be evident from a reading of the draft
water
order. Dr.
William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP): I thank the Minister
for giving way. He knows that there is a general consensus among the
political parties in Northern Ireland against the water reform and
water charging. Therefore what recognition will the Department give to
the representations that have been made by the various parties on this
issue?
David
Cairns: The hon. Gentleman is quite
right. I am labouring under no illusions that this element of the
reform programme commands universal affection and acclaim throughout
Northern Ireland. In fact, it is quite the contrary. I would say a
couple of things. I understand that the charging element is
controversial, but it is a part of an overall package of investment and
reform in improving water services. If we can demonstrate to the people
of Northern Ireland that we are investing the money needed to improve
the quality of their water, which is not up to the quality of the
domestic water in the rest of the United Kingdom, and to improve the
quality of rivers and beaches by improving the sewerage system, they
will understand that the money they are contributing will bring them a
benefit. The second
point is that because there are no hypothecated water payments in
Northern Ireland, and there have not been for a number of years,
funding for water essentially comes out of the general pot. That means
that there is significantly less money in Northern Ireland for
investment in other areas such as health and education. Again, I think
that the people of Northern Ireland would understand that if this
reform allows us to spend more in Northern Ireland on those investment
and reform programmes and other elements of the public sector they
would see that it was a good thing too.
To answer the hon.
Gentleman’s direct question, because we understand that imposing
a charge where hitherto there has not been one is something to which
people need time to adjust, we propose to introduce the charges
incrementally: a third in year 1, two thirds in year 2 and the full
amount in year 3. That recognises people’s concerns about their
ability to pay. Finally, there was a great deal of concern about
affordability. That came through loud and clear in my meetings on this
issue with the hon. Gentleman and others.
The
affordability package that we propose in the draft order goes
significantly beyond what was being asked for, certainly at the time of
the Adjournment debate in March last year, and goes beyond the calls
that even a well respected body such as the General Consumer Council
for Northern Ireland was making at the time. We have a package that
addresses some of the genuine and legitimate concerns that people had
about this issue. None the less, we believe that if we are to
maintain the levels of investment and reform that are necessary to bring
the water and sewerage service system in Northern Ireland up to the
levels of the rest of the United Kingdom—my aspiration is to
surpass that—we will need to impose local, domestic
contributions. Dr.
McCrea: Does the Minister accept that there is a great
frustration among the people of Northern Ireland because they believe
that they are being penalised? While the rest of the United Kingdom
enjoyed new infrastructure over the years, the money in Northern
Ireland was redirected because of the terrorist campaign. A lot of
finances were spent on that, rather than on the necessary water and
sewerage infrastructure and other issues. We are now being asked to
bring them up to the level of the rest of the United Kingdom and there
is some anger and frustration in the hearts of the people of Northern
Ireland. They believe that they are paying for something of which they
are totally
innocent.
David
Cairns: I am familiar with that argument. Indeed, there
has been a backlog in investment in the services of Northern Ireland
which was acknowledged by my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the
Member for Warley (Mr. Spellar), when he addressed that too. However,
the totality of public spending in Northern Ireland is significantly
higher than the totality of public spending in other parts of the UK.
Even stripping out the security-related spending, that continues to be
the case. The hon. Gentleman did not mention the green dowry issue,
which is often mentioned in relation to the point he made. Of course,
that was a significant sum of money given to make the necessary
improvements pre-privatisation to the water system in England, but that
was in large measure offset by the receipts from privatisation of
£6
billion. None the
less, I acknowledge that historically speaking there is a strong case
for greater levels of investment. I would argue very strongly that we
are already addressing that with £1 million a day at the current
rate of spend. Hundreds of millions of pounds will be put in to improve
our water in terms of the pipes, the sewerage, water treatment works
and so on. That would continue even if we were not imposing these
charges. If we really want to see the necessary step change in
investment—we are talking about billions of pounds over the next
15 years or so—we cannot see any feasible alternative but to
proceed along the lines of the charging which is contained in a further
order that is currently out for consultation.
We propose introducing an
affordability tariff, which will benefit nearly a third of Northern
Ireland’s domestic consumers. Articles 3 and 4 of the order
ensure that the Government's commitment to assist people who need help
with the new charges is facilitated.
Article 3 allows information
that is already held by Government agencies, principally the Department
of Finance and Personnel’s rates collection agency and the
Northern Ireland Housing Executive, to be shared with the Department
for Regional Development’s water service agency. By identifying
all those eligible, we will allow nearly 200,000 people to benefit
automatically from the proposed affordability tariff and establish an
accurate billing and contact system for all customers. Article 4
recognises the Government’s duty to ensure
that information in their possession is protected from misuse, and it
introduces criminal sanctions for unauthorised disclosure of
information. Those
aspects of the order are effectively time limited to April 2007, when
it is proposed that the main water reform legislation will allow
information sharing for the affordability tariff. The measures will
come into operation on 1 August 2006, which will allow sufficient time
to put the necessary systems in place.
We consulted on the proposal,
but only seven responses were received and only two of them contained
substantial comments. They reiterated the general opposition to the
introduction of water and sewerage charges, about which we have already
heard, although a district council agreed in principle to information
sharing. However, I am grateful to those who took the time to
respond. The second
aspect of the order facilitates the introduction of measures to
safeguard Northern Ireland’s water environment, through
regulation, by controlling the abstraction and impounding of water.
Article 5 inserts a new article 20 in the Water (Northern Ireland)
Order 1999 and makes other amendments to it in order to broaden the
scope of the Department of the Environment’s power to make
regulations to establish an abstraction licensing scheme.
The wider powers provided for
by those amendments are necessary in order to confer sufficient
legislative authority to introduce a modern and comprehensive set of
regulations in line with the general framework of other environmental
licensing schemes operated by the Department. I acknowledge that those
enabling measures were unusually added to the order only after it was
issued for consultation. However, I emphasise that the order makes
changes only to the enabling powers to introduce regulations. The
details of the new licensing scheme are contained in the draft Water
Abstraction and Impoundment (Licensing) (Northern Ireland) Regulations
2006, which were published on8 May 2006 for a 12-week public
consultation. Subject to parliamentary approval, it is hoped to make
those regulations in the autumn. They will also ensure that the
Government can meet their commitment to having the controls in place by
31 December 2006, thereby avoiding the imposition of financial
penalties by the European Court of Justice.
The introduction of new and
comprehensive controls on water abstraction will facilitate the wider
process of water reform in Northern Ireland, and will ensure that we
can meet our European obligations.
Sir
Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire) (Con): The Minister
gave a provisional timetable. Is itthe Government’s
intention to hand the subject over to the Assembly if the
Government’s deadline for the reconstituted Assembly is
met?
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