Chamber and committees

Do you want to respond, Susan or Douglas?

I have given you a fair crack of the whip, Ms Baillie, but the fact is that a balance has to be achieved here. I do not need to stick up for Scottish Water; I know that the regulator and the minister will take an interest in that.

Ms Baillie, you have also made your point about the difficulty of price rises—we all understand what they are. We have heard from Scottish Water that it is trying to grapple with the question of what it needs to raise in order to invest in and run its business while taking customers into account. You have had, if I may be so bold, a fair crack at this.

I thank everyone and apologise profusely to Susan Rice for not inviting her to give her opening statement. I am in her debt for forgiving me. I thank everyone for their efforts and contributions, and I suspend the meeting to allow us to set up for the next item.

That concludes the public part of the meeting. We now move into private session.

I am sorry to interrupt, Ms Baillie. I am finding this questioning very interesting, but as I understand it—and correct me if I am wrong; I am just looking for clarity—the situation is that, as you are trying to point out, Scottish Water will not be able to meet its objectives unless it puts the prices up to the level that you have suggested. There is a balance between investment and non-investment. Surely, then, it is for Scottish Water to explain what projects it will be unable to achieve if the price does not go up. Have I got that completely wrong?

Perfect. I might see one of those appearing in my constituency office, then.

I am happy for you to refer to all the elements in writing rather than answering that now.

I am also concerned about taxation going from £7.9 million to £158 million. I understand that there was some tax differentiation due to corporation tax, but that is a massive difference. Again, you can write to the committee with an answer on that, if you like.

I will bring Mark Ruskell in if he will be very quick—unless his question has been answered.

Good morning, and welcome to the 31st meeting in 2022 of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

Agenda item 1 is a decision on whether to take items 4 and 5 in private. Item 4 is consideration of evidence that we will hear today under agenda item 2. Item 5 is consideration of our approach to a committee report on our inquiry into the role of local government in delivering net zero targets. Are we all happy to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Agenda item 2 is an evidence session on Scottish Water’s annual report and accounts for 2021-22. I refer members to papers on the item by the clerk and the Scottish Parliament information centre.

On 31 May 2022, Scottish Water published its annual report and accounts for 2021-22, setting out its financial and operational performance for the previous year. Earlier this year, the committee agreed to hold a one-off evidence session with Scottish Water to consider its annual report. It agreed to include at this session representatives from Business Stream and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to explore broader questions on water and sewerage in Scotland.

I welcome the panellists who join us today: Dame Susan Rice, chair of Scottish Water; Douglas Millican, chief executive of Scottish Water; Peter Farrer, chief operating officer of Scottish Water; Alan Sutherland, chief executive of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland; and Johanna Dow, chief executive of Business Stream.

We thank you all for accepting our invitation. We move straight to questions, which the deputy convener, Fiona Hyslop, will start off.

Only this morning.

Susan, would you like to give an opening statement?