Water Companies: Executive Bonuses

Imran Hussain Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)]

The right to clean water is one of the most fundamental, and that is why this debate is very important to my constituents. I rise to support the excellent case put forward from the Opposition Front Bench today. It is interesting to note that, in a debate as important as this, only one or two Government Members have bothered to turn up, and that the majority of their contributions, including those of Ministers, have focused on what happened 13 years ago under the Labour Government. When they start with that, they have already lost their case. It is convenient for them to somehow forget the 13 years that this Government have been in charge. They seem to forget the 13 years of a lack of regulation and inspection, the 13 years in which they hollowed out the Environment Agency and Ofwat, the 13 years of halving the funding, the 13 years of millions in bonuses being paid to water bosses and the 13 years in which families in our constituencies have had rises in their water bills effectively to support that.

Labour Members have spoken about how, in recent years, our rivers, coastlines and waterways have been polluted by the dumping of raw, untreated sewage, with over 800 sewage dumps a day across the country last year. In Bradford, sewage was dumped 5,200 times in 2022, putting us in the top 10 regions for sewage dumping.

Although we are wholly landlocked, one of Yorkshire's major rivers, the River Aire, runs right through the Bradford district, and it is here that the majority of dumping incidents take place, according to the Rivers Trust. In the constituency of the Minister, the hon. Member for Keighley (Robbie Moore)—I welcome him to his place—an outlet near Riddlesden recorded 96 spillages totalling more than 1,000 hours, and an outlet near Bingley recorded 69 spillages totalling more than 800 hours. In my own constituency, an outlet at Apperley Bridge recorded 96 spillages totalling almost 600 hours.

Although dumping directly into rivers has sadly become expected under this Government, the scale of dumping into smaller tributaries, becks and streams in my constituency is particularly alarming. In 2022, sewage was dumped 59 times into Fagley beck, 41 times into Bolton beck, 110 times into East brook, 36 times into Haigh beck and 75 times into Carr beck, all of which are watercourses that run through or along the back of residential estates. And that is just what has been recorded—the actual number of incidents in which sewage has been dumped in Bradford is potentially far higher.

Given the scale of sewage dumping across Bradford, my constituents are asking just what Yorkshire Water is doing to tackle it. The answer? Hiking water bills by an average of £111 in 2023-24, to pass the cost of the urgently needed sewer upgrades, following years of failing to invest properly, directly on to families in my constituency, even as it paid out £62 million in dividends to other businesses in its parent group.

Although the chief executive of Yorkshire Water has reported that she will voluntarily refuse a bonus that would have been as high as the eye-watering figure of £800,000, she still receives a staggering base salary of £515,000 on top of £140,000 in relocation expenses. This makes it clear that, in the week that Yorkshire Water has been forced to pay a record £1 million civil sanction by the Environment Agency, this public relations decision is not as principled as it first seems.

When water company chief executives and directors have presided over an unprecedented wave of sewage dumping while pocketing huge salaries and bumper payments, and when the Government have proven themselves completely incapable of tackling the crisis and holding water companies to account, it is obvious that something has to change. They should start by empowering the water regulator, Ofwat, to ban the payment of bonuses to the bosses of water companies that pollute our rivers, lakes and seas, and they should end by shutting down the monopoly and stranglehold of privately owned water companies on our water network by taking them into public control and ownership, where they belong.