Speeches by Reynolds.

“We keep that under review, but I think that the rules are clear. The rules are that water bosses who do not perform well should not receive bonuses, and there are criteria that we can—”

“The principal statutory duties are the safe supply of drinking water and treatment of wastewater services. That is a different way of putting it but—”

“First, to be very clear to the Committee, I hope that I do stay in my role. DEFRA is an important Department of Government—I think that is obvious to you. As for a review of the different ownership models, there is no legislative block to mutual ownership, which is something the Government could consider. I know there …”

“Ofwat is the regulator. The new regulator, when introduced through our Clean Water Bill, will have sanctions. Perhaps you can talk about that, David.”

“We are on the side of customers. We obviously have to be a little careful in how we talk about individual companies and the prospects for SAR in the future, given that that can have an impact on their valuation if they are listed and, if they are not listed, on the way that they raise money to invest in turnaround or i…”

“Not the Clean Water Bill, but let me set out what we are doing on that. I am proud of the legislation that was brought forward by my predecessor, Steve Reed—the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025—which we took through Parliament as a Government within a few months of taking office. I expect every water company to keep t…”

“Some water companies are, which is why we stopped formally banning.”

“As David has set out, you do not have to change the primary legislation to alter the criteria; that is the problem here. Ofwat has put forward proposals to make sure that the water companies are more transparent about their remuneration. So, my analysis would be that we need to tighten up—”

“As I said, I expect the regulator to hold the water companies to account, and the regulator is acting on this. That is what we are working towards.”

“As I said, as the Environment Secretary, given we have this legislation, I expect them to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law. We have an independent regulator, which will be abolished, and we will have a more integrated regulator of the four regulators with teeth, but this is something that I want th…”

“Can I add something I have done recently, just to update the Committee? In addition to the Water Minister, Emma Hardy, meeting the company last week, I have also very recently—and apologies, Alistair, I need to send you copies—sent letters to South East Water and to the regulators with regard to these disruptions, sett…”

“We would agree with that. That is why the new approach that we are bringing forward would have statutory resilience standards, which we have not had before. We are also strengthening the data about asset health, having more forward-looking metrics for assets and asking companies to map them so that we can understand th…”

“You are obviously right to ask what happens when it looks like companies are trying to get around the rules, but I will just say that, because we have this legislation, £4 million in bonuses was stopped last year.”

“Overall, as I said, the statutory duties are safe drinking water and treatment of waste. Those are the two statutory duties.”

“I will come to your question, but just to reiterate to the Committee why I presented early views on the current proposal from the creditors, I was worried about the unfair cost to the customer. As you know, it is the biggest water company in England in terms of number of consumers—16 million customers. I was worried ab…”

“I am Emma Reynolds. I am the Secretary of State. If I could let my colleagues introduce themselves, that would be nice.”

“We stand ready for all eventualities, including a special administration regime. We have done preparatory work in case that is something that transpires. At this stage in the proceedings, as Environment Secretary, given the legal constraints I am operating within, I am open to what Ofwat says—it is the independent regu…”

“As I said, there has to be a serious breach of the principal statutory duties. The statutory duties are providing safe drinking water and providing wastewater treatment services. There is an enforcement order in place against Thames. Maybe you could talk about the detail on that, David.”

“With regard to South East Water, again just to explain the background before I come to your question, obviously I am very disappointed that it has repeatedly failed in its statutory duty—and it is a water-only company—to provide drinking water to its residents. We have had the case late last year, we have had the case …”

“With regard to the performance SAR, the bar is high; it has not been used before. We have received representations that the criteria perhaps should be clearer, and that is something that we will keep under review. I do take the point you are making, but whatever the Government do with regard to any water company, we ha…”