Member

Furthermore, case law and the Information Commissioner’s Office are clear: water companies are public authorities for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations. As I set out in Committee, the Information Commissioner’s Office already acts on complaints and has taken several steps to ensure water companies release information to the public. The noble Baroness, Lady Willis, mentioned the poor behaviour of some water companies and referred in particular to United Utilities and Windermere. We have had much discussion on this; the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, also mentioned it. Action by the ICO includes recently issuing a practice recommendation to United Utilities. We need to ensure that water companies then act on those recommendations.