Value for Money
Water supply and demand management
Published 25 March 2020
8 recommendations
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Business and industryEnergy and environmentEnvironmental sustainabilityRegulation
nao.org.uk
This report sets out the challenges facing the water industry in England and assesses how Defra is tackling them.
Recommendations (8)
Source: NAO Recommendations Tracker · PAC follow-up below
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 1
Accepted
Implemented
Defra should build on the steps it is already taking through the national framework, and:
a) provide guidance for water companies and facilitate sharing of information between them to support them in improving long-term resilience;
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 2
Accepted
Implemented
b) fulfil its commitment to set a target for water companies for average personal water consumption;
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 3
Accepted
Implemented
c) consider ways of promoting the need for water efficiency more coherently to ensure there is a coordinated and credible message, and develop plans to monitor and evaluate the impact of existing and new awareness-raising activities;
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 4
Accepted
Implemented
d) review the business retail market to identify barriers to achieving improvements in water efficiency and how to overcome them;
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 5
Accepted
Implemented
e) identify all opportunities to influence and work with other government departments to reduce usage by hospitals, schools and other large public sector users, and influence policies that have an impact on water consumption and long-term resilience; and
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 6
Partially Accepted
Implemented
f) provide a stronger steer to Ofwat and the water companies on the expected levels of investment by water companies, informed by better and more consistent evidence on customers’ willingness to pay, commissioning new research, if necessary.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 7
Accepted
Implemented
Defra, Ofwat and the EA should:
g) regularly review water companies’ progress during the coming planning cycle on tackling leakage and reducing consumption, and ensure that water companies have robust contingency plans ready if progress is slower than anticipated; and
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rec 8
Accepted
Implemented
h) review the business and resource management planning processes to ensure the need for a long-term strategy and targets does not cause delays to potential improvements in water companies’ performance.
Parliamentary Committee Follow-Up
The Public Accounts Committee examined this NAO report and published its own recommendations. The government responds to PAC recommendations via Treasury Minutes.
Ninth Report: Water supply and demand management
Public Accounts Committee
· 10 July 2020