Ref No.: 02 25
Request Type: EIR
Date Received: 04/02/25
Date Responded: 25/02/25
Category: Scottish Water
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information:
I am aware that sewerage undertakers are able to include an allowance for duties under s101A of the Water Industry Act 1991 as part of the 5-yearly price review process overseen by WICS. Please can you confirm how much allowance has been provided / allocated by Scottish Water for them to perform their duty under S101A ?
Please can this include total expenditure spent by Scottish Water to connect non mains to their sewerage system and total allowance designated by WICS.
Response
Many thanks for your request for information, which was received by us on 04 February 2025. We have handled your request as a request for environmental information under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EISRs).
Your request asked for how much allowance has been provided / allocated by Scottish Water for them to perform their duty under S101A of the Water Industry Act 1991.
We consider the information to be exempt from disclosure under the EISRs because we do not hold it. We have provided more information on the EISRs, how they apply and why we have applied the exemption in the Annex to this response
Water supplies and sewerage is a matter devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The Water Industry Act 1991 extends to England and Wales only (section 223(3)) and does not apply to Scottish Water or WICS regulatory cycles. As such, there is not a direct equivalent to the expenditure allowances for which you requested the information.
You can find the expenditure by Scottish Water related to connecting new properties in Table G9 of the Annual Return 2023-24.
If you are unhappy with this response to your request, you may ask us to carry out a review by contacting us. Your request for review should explain why you are dissatisfied and should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this response. The review will be undertaken by staff not involved in the original process and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) and thereafter to the Court of Session on a point of law only. The SIC can be contacted using the details below:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road
St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Web: www.foi.scot