Daily Archives: 27 Jun 2023

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27 Jun 2023

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 12 June

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27 Jun 2023

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Staff moves between water firms and their regulators sparks calls for sewage corruption probe

Now we need to add “revolving doors” to the lexicon to account for failures in the water industry to clean up its act. – Owl

Arj Singh inews.co.uk

There is a “revolving door” of executives between regulators supposed to clamp down on sewage spills and water companies, raising questions about a “conflict of interest”, an investigation has revealed.

At least six senior current industry staff members have been identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water firms such as Southern, Northumbrian and South West Water.

It has triggered warnings that regulators could feel “sympathetic to their mates at their former company” or “water company executives who know how to avoid regulations”, and calls for the anti-corruption watchdog Acoba (Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) to investigate.

The investigation by the Liberal Democrats found that despite the movements between such organisations, numerous freedom of information requests and parliamentary questions submitted by the party indicated the Government holds no data on how many former water company employees work for industry regulators.

Lib Dem environment spokesman Tim Farron said: “This raises questions about conflict of interest. You could have regulators who feel sympathetic to mates at their former company, or water company executives who know how to avoid regulations.

“If this is happening, then the whole thing is a farce.”

Mr Farron, a former leader of the Lib Dems, added: “I fear we may now have a revolving door between water companies, the regulator and even government agencies. We can’t have a cosy job club in this industry given the environmental scandals being committed. There needs to be an independent investigation into this.”

The Liberal Democrats have called for Ofwat to be scrapped and replaced with a new water and sewage regulator in England and Wales amid controversy over levels of sewage spills in waterways across the UK.

Both Ofwat and the Environment Agency have previously been criticised for allegedly failing to punish water companies for sewage discharges in rivers and coastal areas as well as high levels of water leaks from its aging pipe network.

Environment Agency figures for last year show there were a total of 301,091 sewage spills in UK waterways in 2022, an average of 824 a day.

However, in March Ofwat promised to block water companies from paying dividends to shareholders if they fail to protect the environment after securing new powers.

Last month, water companies apologised for repeated sewage spills as industry body Water UK pledged to invest £10bn to cut the number of incidents by up to 140,000 a year by 2030.

i understands that for one of the executives in question, the Environment Agency ensured the worker recused themselves from relevant discussions and decision-making during their notice period before going on to work for a water company.

The Government also stressed it has robust procedures in place to prevent conflicts of interest, including the Treasury’s corporate governance code.

A Government spokesman said: “We continue to work alongside the Environment Agency to toughen up enforcement against underperforming and polluting water companies. This includes securing record fines of over £147m, launching a major criminal investigation into potential non-compliance at wastewater treatment works and driving up monitoring to ensure the public can see what is going on.”

“We have also set the strictest targets ever on water companies to reduce sewage discharges through our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which will drive the largest infrastructure programme in their history – an estimated £56bn in capital investment over the next 25 years, driving more improvements.”

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PM prepared to make decisions ‘people may not like’ on public sector pay awards

But hang on. 

Pay rises for the top10% UK earners have outstripped those of the rest of the workforce (see below).

The Prime Minister has warned he will not shy away from making decisions “people may not like” to control inflation as he again refused to commit to accepting recommendations for public sector pay rises.

Ministers have suggested they could choose to ignore advice by independent review bodies to hike public sector pay as part of UK Government attempts to calm the rate of rising prices — an option the Prime Minister has refused to take off the table. (various sources)

In Toryland pay restraint only applies to the “little people”. – Owl

Union fury as figures show pay rises among top earners driving inflation

Toby Helm www.theguardian.com 

Pay rises for the top 10% of UK earners, including City bosses, have clearly outstripped those for the rest of the workforce and been prime drivers of recent inflation and soaring interest rates, according to new analysis of official figures.

After a week that saw interest rates rise for the 13th consecutive time, by 0.5 percentage points, to their highest level level since 2008, the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, angered union leaders by appearing to blame low and middle earners for wage demands that had fuelled the crisis.

But figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that since January, annual wage increases are only becoming more generous among the top 10% of earners, while the rest of the working population is suffering a decline in wage growth.

Analysis by the TUC of official figures also shows that workers among the top 1% of earners, with an annual income of at least £180,000, were paid 7.9% more than last year, up from 3.7% in January.

By contrast, those who are paid £59,000 a year saw the rate of their wage rises fall from 7.2% to 5.5% a year, while workers receiving £26,300 a year saw an even bigger fall in annual wage rises, from 9.5% in January to 4.7% in April.

Last year, the increasing cost of gas and electricity and the higher price of food were blamed for rising inflation.

But the ONS said May’s 8.7% inflation rate, unchanged from April, was mainly due to a surge in demand for discretionary services, including restaurants, hotels, entertainment and flights abroad.

More than 1.2 million people work in financial services and several million more in business services, many of them with high levels of disposable income to spend on non-essential items.

The TUC’s head of economics, Nicola Smith, said the ONS figures showed the wrong people were being blamed.

“Scapegoating people in work for high inflation is wrong. There is no evidence of high or accelerating wage increases across 90% of the workforce. If anything, the data shows wage rises are slowing and most workers are suffering real-terms wage cuts,” she said.

After the rate increase decision, Bailey said: “The UK cannot continue to have the current level of wage increases.”

On Saturday, as anger over pay unfairness and the rising cost of living grew, union leaders rounded on ministers over suggestions they were now ready to overrule the official pay review bodies (PRBs) if they recommended “unsustainable” increases, after the Bank governor’s comments.

Unison’s assistant general secretary, Jon Richards, said: “In the last pay round, the government spent months hiding behind the NHS pay review body. Ridiculous claims ministers couldn’t intervene with the PRB led to strikes and much needless disruption to patients and services.

“For the prime minister to be pondering blocking the other pay review bodies is utterly farcical.”

Responding to reports that ministers could even block pay rises recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body, Patrick Roach, general secretary of teachers’ union NASUWT, said if that was the case, they would have misled parliament.

“In recent weeks [education secretary] Gillian Keegan has been insistent that the pay review body process will determine teachers’ pay. Our members will be asking whether she has deliberately misled parliament and the country. She must now show some integrity.”

Referring to the threat of more strike action in schools, he added: “We have been calling on the education secretary to return to the negotiating table to find a resolution that will command the support of teachers and headteachers. She must do so immediately.

“If the government chooses to ignore the recommendations of the pay review body, this will have profound consequences for future industrial relations, with industrial action likely in the autumn.”

On Saturday, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wrote to the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, urging him to work with the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure savers are rewarded fairly as interest rates rise.

“With interest rates going up across the board for mortgage holders, it’s only right that savers should get the bang for their buck they deserve. The government should be working with the regulator and the banks now to make sure competition for savings is working.”

Data from financial information service Moneyfacts shows the spread between mortgage rates and saving rates for two-year products grew from 1.08 percentage points in November 2019 to 1.65 percentage points now – an increase of more than half a point.

Rishi Sunak has staked his credibility on halving inflation by the end of this year, a promise that most economists now believe he may struggle to keep.

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27 Jun 2023

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“Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring”

“I want people to be reassured that we’ve got to hold our nerve, stick to the plan and we will get through this.” 

No not:

But him:

“I’m here to tell you that I am totally, 100% on it. And it is going to be OK and we are going to get through this and that is the most important thing I wanted to let you know today.”

Er – what is the plan? – Owl

[With apologies to “Dad’s Army”, though Rishi Sunak wrote the script.]