Chamber and committees

The regulatory frameworks as established by the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 stipulate that customers covered by a charges scheme may only be charged by Scottish Water for the provision of core functions. Customers are therefore protected from the costs arising from non-core functions and section 24 of the Bill clarifies this as regards the new duties imposed on Scottish Water. The Bill also sets out that the duties on Scottish Water to develop the value of its assets and promote the use of its assets for renewable energy generation are imposed only so far as is not inconsistent with the economic, efficient and effective exercise of Scottish Water’s core functions.

Part 7 of the Bill aims to modernise procedures to be followed when there is a shortage in the public supply. Both domestic and non-domestic users may be asked to co-operate to reduce their demand on the network. There are consultation procedures to allow comments on the proposals and their impact on users, both domestic and non-domestic.

Scottish Water is responsible for supplying wholesome drinking water and treats raw water in order to do this. Part 4 of the Bill will enable Scottish Water to enter premises for the purposes of monitoring raw water quality or finding the source of pollution, so that action can be taken. If raw water quality is being affected illegally (i.e. in breach of the applicable environmental protection legislation) Scottish Water can alert SEPA, who will take action as the environmental regulator in Scotland. If raw water quality is being affected by lawful activities, the Bill gives Scottish Water the option of entering into a voluntary agreement with the relevant landowner or occupier to protect or improve raw water quality. The purpose of the provisions on monitoring raw water quality is accordingly to allow Scottish Water to gather information so that it can address quality issues in the most cost effective manner.

Private water companies are not involved in the setting and approval of Scottish Water’s infrastructure plan. Ministers are required by Section 56A of the Water Industry (Scotland)Act 2002 to direct Scottish Water as to the standards of services and investment activities that Scottish Water must undertake in any regulatory period. Ministers also approve Scottish Water’s Delivery Plan which sets out the timeframe for delivering the investment necessary to meet the requirements set out in the Directions. A copy of the Ministerial Directions covering the current regulatory period 2010-15 is available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/waterindustryscot/improvingservices/currentimprovement.

The exemptions from the regime cover activities which are for the most part non-consumptive of the water abstracted and confer wider public benefit.

No. The Bill does not change the existing position that Scottish Water is the sole supplier of water and wastewater services to the Scottish household sector.

Section 4 of the Water Services (Scotland) Act 2005 prohibits the use of the public networks by anyone other than Scottish Water or Scottish Water’s agents. It is therefore not possible for Scottish Water to generate any income from private companies for such activity.

While the current configuration of college campuses is expected to remain the same, we would expect colleges to monitor the implication of any merger on students through a post merger evaluation process, including the SFC.

In our joint consultation with the SFC “College regionalisation: Proposals for implementing Putting Learners at the Centre” we made clear we expected the major campuses that currently exist to remain. The consultation also made clear the importance, in defining the new college regions, of reflecting distances students have to travel.

Respondees strongly welcomed the Government’s intention to protect local access-level provision within the college regions proposed in the consultation, recognising that college regionalisation offered a number of opportunities to improve and enhance the learner experience.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10490 on 7 November 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.