Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
Continued leadership failure is grounds for leadership change.
Conclusion
Continued leadership failure is grounds for leadership change. Time and again, since 2020, South East Water’s leadership has failed in its fundamental task of supplying water to its customers. That is around six years of poor performance, sometimes with multiple incidents within the same year. Most problematic from a leadership perspective are the failures identified in the company’s monitoring and managing of risks and the incident response. These are largely procedural matters, entirely within the company’s control and have hardly improved from incident to incident. There are some signals that action is now being taken, but it is too little, too late. Even as of April 2026, that same leadership continues to cite mitigating factors that should have been known and properly prepared for. This is the same leadership that failed to give an accurate account of the Pembury incident to our Committee in January, an issue that we will continue to deliberate on. (Conclusion, Paragraph 76)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government acknowledges South East Water's leadership failures and notes the resignations of the Chair and Chief Executive, indicating that leadership change has occurred. It commits to working with the company and regulators through regular performance meetings during the transition to new leadership.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
It is right that South East Water’s leadership has taken responsibility for the ongoing failures. The resignations of the Chair and Chief Executive reflect the seriousness of what has happened, and the company must now make the changes needed to turn its performance around. Government and regulators will continue to work with South East Water through regular performance meetings during the company’s transition to new leadership.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗