Water (Special Measures) Bill [HL]

Lord Douglas-Miller Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 9th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Whitty. I congratulate the Government and the Minister on making such a prompt start in addressing some of the long-standing issues associated with pollution emanating from the water sector. However, for a sector that is in dire need of significant long-term investment, strong management and increased financial stability, the overall impression the Bill gives is that the Government are anti-business, with far too much stick and not nearly enough carrot.

I completely agree that the water companies collectively need to improve both their performance and their financial resilience—areas in which they have let themselves down over the last years. The level of financial gymnastics that has so exercised the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, and the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, over the years has left the industry in a poor state to invest in the necessary infrastructure improvements and to reduce pollution incidents. Regrettably, the vast majority of those associated with this have long since departed the scene, and this Government’s desire to punish the sector through increased regulation and interference with market forces risks pushing the water companies further down the wrong road and making them less able to respond to the investment that is so desperately required.

It is not, as is often portrayed, a universally poor picture across all fronts in the water sector. In fact, on value, what customers get at the moment is really pretty good. Most get all the clean water that they can consume, and all their wastewater taken away, for little over £1 a day. What they do not get, and what they want to see, is their wastewater being managed responsibly and not illegally poured into our rivers and seas without due process. Crucially, customers do not want to see—although I fear the Bill will deliver it—increased costs and volatility in the sector.

One of the great challenges in this space is that the illegal dumping of sewage is often conflated with the legal process of sewage being released in high-rainfall events, which has been a feature of our system since it was designed by our Victorian forebears. Of course, both these outcomes are highly undesirable. Illegal dumping of sewage should rightly be penalised by strong measures, such as significant fines and bonus reductions, to prevent this happening. However, the reality is that the infrastructure requirements needed to reduce the legal release of sewage in high-rainfall events will take significant investment of time and resources.

Care should be taken by this Government to ensure that we do not create an environment where no good, top-quality executives want to go near this industry because of the draconian penalties and the random way in which government and its agencies run roughshod over the sector. Moving from where we are now to where we want to get to is a far from simple task. It will require capable and hard-working individuals to drive change through. In essence, I am saying: do not frighten the horses in a mad rush to punish an industry where those who have created the problems have long gone and those who are needed to sort it out are in short supply.

This begs the question: how was it allowed to get into this state? The answer, I am afraid, comes back to the inadequacies of the regulators. This is a serious cause for concern, as the Bill gives a whole range of new powers to the regulators, which have not shown a high level of competence to date. I ask the Minister to reflect on whether it is appropriate to give the regulators additional powers that interfere with the running of a large-scale business that they clearly do not understand.

In conclusion—to avoid repetition and in the interests of time—I support the comments made by my noble friends Lord Blencathra and Lord Remnant. In particular, I question the fit-and-proper-person test and the need to have consumer representation on water company boards. This, in my experience, will lead to conflict and paralysis in the boardroom, the inevitable slowing-down of decision-making, increased volatility and, worst of all, increased costs for the consumer.

Wild Atlantic Salmon

Lord Douglas-Miller Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Douglas-Miller (Con)]

My Lords, I start by putting on record my congratulations to the Minister on her appointment. I wish her all the best in navigating her way through an interesting, diverse and sometimes thorny portfolio. I declare my interests, as set out in the register, as the owner of two salmon rivers in Scotland and as a past chairman of the Atlantic Salmon Trust.

I am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Forsyth of Drumlean for raising this important issue. It is regrettable that we have so little time, both individually and collectively, to explore it. To add a little context to this debate, I will offer a few statistics to help noble Lords visualise the extent of the demise of wild Atlantic salmon. In 1800, the population of wild Atlantic salmon was estimated at 100 million. By 1950, this number had dropped to approximately 10 million—a reduction of 90%. Today, the population sits at around 2.5 million, so, in statistical terms, we have lost 97.5% of the population in a little over 200 years. For a species that has been swimming in our rivers and oceans for more than 6 million years, that is a truly terrible result. They are now classified as endangered, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they are on the brink of extinction.

Depressingly, the cause of this disaster is almost entirely man-made. There are, however, many ways in which the fortunes of this incredible pioneer, traveller and survivor could be reversed. Today, we will hear from many noble Lords about some of the key ways to improve salmon numbers. Essentially, as my noble friend Lord Forsyth mentioned, there are only two things that salmon need: cold water and clean water. I totally endorse my noble friend’s comments on salmon farming. I encourage all Members of this House to refrain from eating the smoked salmon on the menus here and instead to look at smoked trout, which is a much healthier and kinder alternative to smoked salmon.