Member

I move on to the noble Baroness’s Amendment 98, which looks to confer a power on the Secretary of State to make provision for transferring water companies into public ownership through secondary legislation. The Government have been clear that public ownership is not the right solution to the challenges the water industry currently faces. The cost of nationalising the whole industry would be over £90 billion—this is based on Ofwat’s regulatory capital value figures for 2024. My noble friend Lord Sikka asked for details of the figures, and we are happy to share them with him and with the noble Baroness, if that is of interest.