Clause 44 - Standards of performance
Water Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
I can explain that. The amendments would remove the requirement for the authority to serve a copy of the application on
''such other persons or bodies that the Secretary of State may consider appropriate''.
The authority would have to consult only the undertakers on the council and representative bodies.
The new provision was placed in the Bill primarily to account for changes that would come in with the new competitive markets. There may be occasions when proposed new standards of performance will have a direct impact on licensed water suppliers in the competitive market. Naturally, in such cases the licensees would have to be consulted, because they would be affected.
On the other hand, new standards may only be relevant to domestic consumers. Those new standards will not be of interest to licensees who cannot operate in the domestic market. Therefore, it would not be sensible to list licensees as statutory consultees for all occasions, although there may be times when a wider area of consultation is considered appropriate.
The Bill ensures that the Secretary of State gives consideration to wider consultation, depending on the circumstances. The amendment would remove that requirement. The reasoning behind the clause is to account for different circumstances and groups, and to give the Secretary of State flexibility in how she addresses the issue.