Policy makers and elected representatives

While we have no political affiliation as an organisation and have a policy that we make no political donations of any sort, policy makers and elected representatives have a significant influence on our operations.

We therefore aim to build and maintain close relationships with them to inform and influence their decisions in an open and transparent way.

The Flood and Water Management Bill, which has now been passed as an Act of Parliament, includes measures to implement the recommendations of the Government-commissioned Pitt Review that followed the severe floods of 2007, as well as other important issues.

We worked with Parliamentarians and civil servants to help ensure the Bill made the right changes for customers, the environment and the water industry. We responded to the consultation on the draft Bill, and gave evidence to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's investigation on the subject.

We were particularly pleased that the final Act included provisions to allow water companies to offer a social tariff to those customers least able to pay their bills – a change we proposed – as well as new measures to help combat bad debt. These issues were also central to the submissions we made to the Walker Review, an independent government review of charging for water and sewerage services that was published in December 2009.

We also gave the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee evidence on the water industry Price Review, an issue that was the focus of our engagement with policy makers, elected representatives and NGOs throughout 2009.

We meet many of the 143 MPs in our region to discuss projects affecting their constituencies. In September 2009, we held a boat trip for MPs whose constituencies border the Thames in order to raise awareness of our proposals to enhance river water quality through the London Tideway Improvements programme.