Water Industry Investment Group minutes: December 2024
Minutes from the meeting held on 13 December 2024.
Part of
Attendees and apologies
- Darren Knox, Investment Planning and Delivery Team Leader, Scottish Government (SG), Chair
- Rosemary Greenhill, Head of Water Policy, SG
- John Doherty, Policy Officer, SG
- Jo Blewett, Deputy Director for Water Industry and Corporate Operations Division, SG
- Simon Parsons, Director of Environment, Planning and Assurance, Scottish Water (SW)
- Rob Mustard, Director of Capital Investment, SW
- Wendy Kimpton, Director of Strategy & Regulation, SW
- Aileen MacKenzie, Regulatory Assurance Manager, SW
- Colin McNaughton, Director of Performance and Reporting, Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS)
- David Satti, Interim Chief Executive, WICS
- Gail Walker, Head of Water, Consumer Scotland
- David Harley, Head of Water and Planning, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
- Lin Bunten, Chief Operating Officer, Regulation, Business, and Environment, SEPA
- David Reynolds, Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR)
Apologies
- Matthew Bower, DWQR
- Sharron Forrester, SEPA
- Alex Plant, Scottish Water
Items and actions
Welcome and introductions
Darren Knox opened the meeting. Members gave introductions. New member of staff at Scottish Government, John Doherty, was introduced to the group.
Review of actions from previous Scottish Government Investment Group (SGIG) meeting
Darren Knox outlined outstanding actions within the Action Log, and attendees reviewed outstanding actions collectively.
Summary of review:
- 19.01: Complete
- 20:05: Being progressed by Scottish Government pending discussion today. In Progress
- 21.01: In Progress
- 21.02: In Progress
- 21.03: Meeting planned for early January. In Progress
- 21.04: Complete
- 21.05: To be reviewed. In Progress
Working group report
The Working Group Report was circulated in advance. Darren Knox provided a brief run through of the paper.
Key Highlights
- all Indicator of Progress of Overall Delivery (IPOD) metrics were within the target range
- three Strategic Review 2015-21 (SR15) Completion projects achieved acceptance within Q2
- Scottish Water delivered on its commitment to install 1000 overflow monitors by the end of 2024, with the near real time Overflow Map on track to go live this month
Discussion
- there was support among the group to have greater clarity on how Scottish Water are progressing towards the delivery of the Ministerial Objectives
- there was concern over the lack of visibility of the Improving Urban Waters Routemap, despite the high profile nature of this
- it was raised that it may be helpful to begin to have conversations about lessons learned around project scope Change Control documentation and how those learnings can be engendered in Strategic Review 2027-33 (SR27)
Actions
- 22.01: SW to take an update on Improving Urban Waters Routemap to Working Group
- 22.02: SW to involve WICS in discussions around Loch Dornoch Scope Change
Discussion on hot issues
Darren Knox moved the conversation on to emerging hot issues and topics.
Darren Knox picked out a few common themes in feedback from members:
- members tend to agree that we need a better sense of our progress towards the Ministerial Objectives, and what gaps towards that achievement still exists
- greater clarity is required of what decisions should be taken at this group, and what roles and responsibilities sit with attendees at this group
Discussion
- it was raised that there will be significant regulatory attention on networks going forward as the piece of work around Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is largely complete. Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), bathing waters policy, endemic chemicals and pollutants will be high profile focuses also. It was also acknowledged that new EU directives such as the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive may have an affect on the direction of prioritisation however
- a question was raised about whether this group’s profile should be raised to become more public in order to assist in maintaining public confidence and assurance. Wider points were raised about how we give greater public assurance over this work and decision making. It was highlighted that greater public visibility would require giving the public greater context to appropriately understand decision making. Discussion also particularly focused on public visibility of achievement towards Ministerial Objectives
- questions were raised over whether there was a role for Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) at these meetings – perhaps not through direct attendance, but through some sort of feedback mechanism
- it was raised that there may be shortfalls in how this group considers risk and ensures that Ministers are fully aware of the residual risk that they carry responsibility for
- a point was made around Level of Service outcomes, and that there is potentially scope to broaden what this group looks like in terms of these outcomes
Progress report of performance against the Committed List – Q2 2024-25
Rob Mustard took attendees through a summary of the progress report of performance against the Committed List Q2 2024-25. Investment is essentially on track, however demands are coming through which is leading to a shift of some activity into SR27. It was highlighted that material and labour costs are exceptionally high at the present time and continuing to rise, which provides challenges when start on sites are delayed.
Discussion
- praise was given for the new format of the report. A request was made that in areas where declines are detailed, further context for the reasons behind these declines are given
- it was also raised that a short key programmes and projects summary could be included going forward
- a request was made that SW included linkages between sub-portfolio reporting and the top risks in these areas
- SW raised that there is an intention to complete deep dives on several delayed projects for the purposes of learning lessons
Action 22.03: SW to make changes to progress report as follows:
- linkages between sub-portfolio reporting, and top risks in these areas, to be included
- include brief key programmes and projects summary going forward
- include context where declines are being detailed
Progress report on interventions to meet the needs on the Development List
Simon Parsons took attendees through a summary on the progress report on interventions to meet the Needs on the Development List. The level of investment in delivery has increased since Q1 as projects proceed through the Plan and Prepare stages. At the end of Q2, Progress to the Committed List (PCL) was around 110%, indicating that sufficient volumes of investment are being developed to achieve future planned development. SW are continuing to see flow of work through all areas, but now face choices in what investment can proceed. It was raised that regulatory drivers do not exist around internal/external sewer flooding, so from a business perspective this could be an area of change.
Discussion
- particular focus was made by attendees towards internal flooding issues due to the severity of ramifications for customers. A greater understanding is needed of how severe and widespread an issue this is
Actions
- 22.04: SW to present deep dive on internal/external flooding, as well as linkages to CSO issues
- 22.05: Working Group or Future Investment Group to be used as a platform to explore whether Ministerial Objectives could be made more prescriptive around internal/external flooding – or perhaps whether there should be changes made to legislation
- 22.06: SG Investment Group to have future discussion around how we have better sight of the risks involved with the current pace of investment
Transfers to the Committed List
Rob Mustard took the group through a paper detailing the transfers of projects to the Committed List.
No discussion followed.
Discussion on Terms of Reference (ToR)/governance for SGIG
Darren Knox shared a slide deck on governance ahead of the call. Jo Blewett took attendees through the slide deck of her analysis of the governance around SGIG, its working group, and wider linkages.
- it was raised that there was no direct linkage with high level group. It was questioned whether there should be an escalation route there. It was raised however that the High Level Group may not necessarily sit within the hierarchy, and plays a different role – i.e. more for relationship building
- it was flagged that a number of groups have significant overlaps in terms of membership and queried whether the current structure is delivering appropriate efficiency and value
- potential was raised for a realignment between Future Investment Group (FIG) and Working Group due to the significant overlap between attendees there
- it was raised that Working Group needs to be realigned in order to avoid being a “pre-run” of this meeting
- significant changes to Working Group were cautioned against due to the fact we’re currently going through a particularly quiet period of time, however this is not representative of the general picture
- support for keeping this meeting as quarterly was expressed
Actions
- 22.07: SG to update ToR based on discussions and further development
- 22.08: SG to look at structure and format of Working Group going forward
Any other business
It was raised that Ofwat are due to publish Price Review 2024 (PR24) Final Determinations next week.
Action 22.09: Wendy Kimpton to provide summary of how PR24 Final Determinations parallel with the work we are doing and intend to do.
