The water regulator for England and Wales has been accused of a cover-up after failing to declare dinners its chairman had with water company executives at a private members’ club as hospitality.
The Guardian revealed earlier this month that the Ofwat chairman, Iain Coucher, went for dinner with the water company chairs at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, an exclusive private members’ club, to discuss how to quell public anger over bill rises and sewage spills. But there was no sign of these dinners on his official hospitality logs that were revealed under freedom of information requests from the Liberal Democrats.
After the private meetings were uncovered, Ofwat reviewed its hospitality logs and revealed that the chair was treated to four dinners costing a total of £240, paid for by Severn Trent Water, South West Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.
Ofwat also failed to declare Thames Water paid for a dinner with their board. One dinner with Severn Trent Water was also previously withheld from public records.
Originally, the water regulator claimed its directors had only received £659 in hospitality last year. However, since updating their response after the Guardian’s article, Ofwat reveals it is almost double that amount at £1,272.
Campaigners said the dinners with the water company chairs were an outrageous example of “regulatory capture”, as Ofwat is supposed to hold water companies to account, rather than help with their public relations.
The Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “This cover-up has confirmed the regulator is not fit for purpose. The water industry needs to be completely ripped up. There should be an independent inquiry into the cosy club which allows sewage to flow into our waterways. No wonder Ofwat aren’t taking tough action when they are being fed fancy dinners by these disgraced firms.
“Our rivers and coastlines are being destroyed by raw sewage whilst the regulator gets wined and dined by the polluters. Frankly, the whole thing stinks.
“These secret sewage soirees will stink to the public. Why aren’t Conservative ministers getting a grip of this? Under this government’s watch, water company profits have ballooned and insulting bonuses have been paid out.”
An Ofwat spokesperson said: “We found out that we made a mistake and didn’t give a full list of information to an FoI request. We spotted the error, told the requester that we had done so and would review it to make sure they got all the information they wanted, and we have now done that. We’ve apologised and tried to correct the mistake.
“We remain focused on holding water companies to account on behalf of customers and have imposed fines and performance penalties worth £250m in the past few years.”
