Water Industry (Financial Assistance) Bill

I apologise, Mr Hoyle, for being a little slow in standing to indicate my intention to speak. You can take it that I was confused about which clauses were being debated at which time. I want to speak briefly about new clause 1 and, in particular, to press the point of a national social tariff. In the north-west, the affordability of water is affected by deprivation. Unlike the south-west, it is not affected by geographical issues or expenditure. We are a region with considerable difficulties and the bills of United Utilities, which is the north-west water company, are close to the national average, but income deprivation is worse than in any other region. More than half of the country's most deprived communities are in the north-west, even though we have only 13% of England's population. Ofwat's analysis shows that once households in the South West Water region receive their proposed £50 bill reduction, affordability problems will be more severe in the north-west than in the south-west. Company social tariffs will not solve the problem, however, as too many customers in the north-west are in financial need to make the in-house cross-subsidy work properly. We therefore need a national social tariff scheme that all water companies would pay into. Taking the hands-off approach of leaving it to water companies to provide their own affordability schemes, and certainly giving them the choice of whether or not to provide it, will not help the people who are most in need in Bolton West. There is no definition of water poverty, but if someone is paying 5% or even 3% of their income on their water bill, they are pretty poor. Some 840,000 households in the north-west spend 3% of their income on water, and 370,000 households spend more than 5% of their net income on water. It is United Utilities that is telling me that company social tariffs will not work in the north-west; we therefore need national action on social tariffs. Water debt is just part of the problem facing so many low-paid people. In my constituency, people are dependent on food handouts, are losing their homes and are unable to heat their homes or pay their water bills. Very poor people are paying the price for global economic failure. Let me finish by asking a few questions. Will a water Bill be announced in the Queen's Speech and will we see action on this in the next Session of Parliament? If not, will the Government do something on a national social tariff?