Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the cumulative regulatory time spent on the processing of New Appointment and Variations applications for independent water networks in 2023-4.

The Secretary of State has not had any discussion with Ofwat on the implementation of a national New Appointment and Variations licence for independent water networks. Given the principle of regulatory independence, Ofwat conduct their functions at a distance from government.

The licensing of new appointments and variations of appointment is set out in relevant sections of the Water Industry Act 1991 and Ofwat's published policy and process guidance.

Ofwat is currently considering responses to its recent consultation on using monitoring data to evolve its approach to licensing new appointees. This consultation set out proposed changes to the licensing of new appointments and variations, and highlighted areas where it intends to conduct further work.

In 2023-24, Ofwat had around 6 full time equivalent members of staff working on new appointee and variation licensing applications.