Mentions:
1: None Ofwat and the Government take the financial resilience of the water sector very seriously. - Speech Link
2: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (LAB - Life peer) My Lords, back in December last year, Ofwat outlined concerns about the financial resilience of several - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Rebecca Pow (CON - Taunton Deane) Ofwat reports annually on the sector’s financial resilience, and Ofwat’s latest annual monitoring financial - Speech Link
2: Rebecca Pow (CON - Taunton Deane) In July 2022, it set out additional proposals to increase financial resilience, including companies having - Speech Link
3: Philip Dunne (CON - Ludlow) On financial resilience, has the Minister taken the opportunity to consider the hotchpotch of policies - Speech Link
4: Rebecca Pow (CON - Taunton Deane) We have a privatised system, whose financial resilience, as I have reported, has increased rather than - Speech Link
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.
Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.
Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.
Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.
Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Ofwat about water companies at risk of bankruptcy.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government and Ofwat take the financial resilience of the water sector very seriously.
Ofwat continues to monitor the financial position of all water and wastewater companies. It sets out its assessment of the financial resilience of each company in its annual Monitoring Financial Resilience report. The Government is prepared for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries - including water - as any responsible government would be.
Correspondence Feb. 20 2024
Committee: Treasury Committee (Department: HM Treasury)Found: Resilience, and through its participation with the Cross Market Operational Resilience Group (CMORG
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with regulators to (a) safeguard the interests of consumers and (b) help ensure the financial stability of the water sector.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The five yearly Price Review process is currently underway for the period 2025-30, in which Ofwat sets an overall cap on the total amount that each water company may recover from their customers. As part of this process, Ofwat balances the interests of consumers with the ability of companies to finance the delivery of their services.
Regarding safeguarding consumer interests, Government is mindful consumers are concerned about their bills. For this reason, Defra expects all water companies to make customers aware of available support, including WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks, and debt management assistance. We are continuing to work with industry to explore options to improve existing social tariff arrangements and welcome the planned household charging trials in 2024-25.
Regarding financial stability, Ofwat assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company. Through this publication, Ofwat aims to promote a focus on efficient investment that secures long-term resilience and delivers long-term value for money for customers and the environment.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking with (a) banks and (b) other financial institutions to improve the financial sustainability of those organisations.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to retaining the UK’s position as one of the most innovative and competitive financial centres in the world. The Chancellor recently set out an ambitious reform programme at Mansion House, building on the success of the Edinburgh Reforms, which will help to deliver the Government’s vision for a financial sector that is open, sustainable, technologically innovative, and globally competitive. Additionally, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 introduced new secondary objectives for both the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulatory Authority to facilitate the international competitiveness of the UK economy (including the financial services sector), and its growth in the medium to long term.
Financial stability is a pre-requisite for economic growth and is crucial for the competitiveness of the financial services sector. The government, working closely with the financial regulators, has made major improvements to the resilience of the banking system since the financial crisis with capital requirements for banks now three times higher. The government has also considered it a priority to build resilience in the non-bank system and has been working closely with the regulators and international bodies to achieve this.
The Bank of England also undertakes regular stress tests on the UK’s major banks to test their resilience to severe economic scenarios and for the first time will be undertaking a system wide exploratory scenario which aims to improve the understanding of how banks and non-banks behave during stress and how these behaviours might interact to amplify shocks.
Written Evidence Mar. 06 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: GEX0013 - Government resilience: extreme weather UK Corporate Leaders Group (CLG UK) Written Evidence
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the findings of the Financial Conduct Authority survey indicating a decrease in savings and investing among UK adults, what steps they are taking to help individuals and families save and invest.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment, to help hard working people save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience.
The Help to Save scheme was launched in September 2018 and is intended to promote financial resilience among working households on low incomes by supporting them to kickstart a regular, long-term savings habit and build a financial buffer for a rainy day.
Individuals can also save up to £20,000 into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) each year, and any savings income received within an ISA is tax free. This, along with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers means that around 85% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income.
However, the Government also recognises that people need support to make effective investment decisions. This is why the Government and FCA are working on a joint review of the boundary between financial advice and guidance to ensure people can access appropriate support with their financial decision-making.