Select committees do not often focus directly on the leadership, behaviour and performance of individual private companies. The water sector, however, is a highly regulated monopoly provider of services essential to public health. Residents have no choice over their water provider yet rely on them entirely for their lives and livelihoods and have little power to hold their leaders to account in cases of failure. Throughout the course of our inquiry into ‘Reforming the water sector’, we have already deemed it necessary to scrutinise the most significant water companies in England and Wales to hold them to account. To report specifically on South East Water, however, indicates the gravity of the situation facing the residents and businesses in the communities it serves. Given the extremely negative and dangerous impact that SEW has had on over 300,000 people since 2020, we feel compelled to apply public accountability to the leadership of a company that otherwise appears shielded from the consequences of its incompetence. (Conclusion, Paragraph 9) Failures at South East Water