Source · National Audit Office

Water supply and demand management

Published: 25 Mar 2020 Recommendations: 8 Type: Value for Money NAO confirmed: 8 Department: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

This report sets out the challenges facing the water industry in England and assesses how Defra is tackling them.

Dept: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Topics: Business and industryEnergy and environmentEnvironmental sustainabilityRegulation nao.org.uk →

Recommendations

8 items

7 accepted 1 partially accepted 8 implemented

Rec	Recommendation	Addressee	Acceptance	Implementation
1	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; Ref Page 12, paragraph 22, point a · Implemented Q4 2020-21	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
2	b) fulfil its commitment to set a target for water companies for average personal water consumption; Ref Page 12, paragraph 22, point b · Implemented Q2 2021-22	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
3	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; Ref Page 12, paragraph 22, point c · Implemented Q2 2021-22	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
4	d) review the business retail market to identify barriers to achieving improvements in water efficiency and how to overcome them; Ref Page 12, paragraph 22, point d · Implemented Q3 2021-22	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
5	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 Ref Page 13, paragraph 22, point e · Implemented Q2 2021-22	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
6	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. Ref Page 13, paragraph 22, point f · Implemented Q4 2021-22	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Partially accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
7	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 Ref Page 13, paragraph 23, point g · Implemented Q2 2022-23	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
8	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. Ref Page 13, paragraph 23, point h · Implemented Q2 2022-23	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO

Public Accounts Committee follow-up

1 report

The Public Accounts Committee examined this NAO report and published its own recommendations. The government responds to PAC recommendations via Treasury Minutes.

10 Jul 2020 Public Accounts C… Ninth Report: Water supply and demand management · parliament.uk