Clause 39 - Emergency supply by water undertaker
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
10:30 am
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State (Local and Regional Government), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
I can give the hon. Gentleman the important assurance that the obligations under the clause relate to the supply of water for the purpose of extinguishing a fire. There is a clear obligation on water undertakers to ''take all necessary steps''—and the use of the word ''necessary'' is rather important—to increase
''supply and pressure of water for the purposes of extinguishing a fire''
if requested to do so by a fire and rescue authority.
The hon. Gentleman asked an interesting question about the knock-on consequences for other water users. Of course, that is not strictly within the remit of the Bill, so I am afraid that I am not able to give him the precise assurance that he is seeking, but I will of course write to him when I have made further inquiries, as the issue goes wider than the Bill.
I thought for a moment that we would have a foray into the problems of water supply when the hon. Gentleman described the consequences of interruptions in potable water supply—I thought that we were about to get an advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appears to be trying to bottle water from the mains and sell it at an absurd price to a gullible public. Fortunately, we did not stretch to going down that route, and you did not have to call us back to order, Mr. O'Hara. With that assurance, I hope that the hon. Gentleman is happy for clause 39 to stand part of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 39 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 40 ordered to stand part of the Bill.