Cunliffe commission
Regulatory reform in the water industry - the CUNLIFFE commission
The UK and Welsh governments have announced a review of the water sector in response to public anger over rising bills, sewage spills, and a lack of investment. The review is chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe, former deputy governor of the Bank of England.
What is the CUNLIFFE Commission ?
The CUNLIFFE Commission is an independent review of water industry regulation in England and wales. DEFRA will work with Jc, the chair of the independent commission, Jon Cunliffe, to devise a set of recommendations for reform of the water sector regulatory system. This will deliver a necessary reset of the water sector in England and Wales. This review will take place from November 2024 until June 2025.
What is meant by reset of the water sector?
the Government’s reset of the water sector will establish a new partnership between government, water companies, customers, investors, leisure users of water and people who work to protect our environment.
What’s been asked for from the CUNLIFFE commission ?
Jon CUNLIFFE has been asked for a root-and-branch review of the entire sector including looking at regulation and the regulator.
The output will be a set of recommendations to reform the water sector regulatory system to deliver the necessary reset of the water sector in England and Wales.
The review will focus on the water sector in England and wales, and its regulation. and will have no limits in the scope of its potential recommendations, including wholesale reform of Ofwat and how it interacts with other watchdogs such as the Environment Agency.
Ofwat could even go altogether.
What is ofwat?
Ofwat is the non-ministerial government department that regulates the water sector in England and Wales.
Could water be nationalised?
Despite calls from some to nationalise wastewater collection and sewage treatment, The government has ruled out nationalizing the sector, which was privatized in the 1989
Who asked for THE CUNLIFFE commission?
The Environment Secretary and, the Deputy First Minister for Wales and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs have asked DEFRA for the cunliffe commission.
WHO are The environment Secretary and the Deputy First Minister for Wales and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs?
Steve Reed and Ifor Irranca-Davies
Why have the English and Welsh government asked For a review of water regulation?
years of underinvestment despite captive water bill payers paying ever increasing water bills amid widely promoted promises of investment, a growing population and extreme weather caused by climate change have led to intense pressure on England’s ageing water system, causing widespread flooding, supply issues, sewage pollution and leakages.
What will the cunliffe commission do?
The review will tackle systemic problems of the regulatory framework, which has devein a piecemeal fashion since privatisation, and secure the infrastructure needed to meet future challenges, drive economic growth and clean up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas,
When will the CUNLIFFE review of water regulation end?
We will know the outcome of the Cunliffe commission and it’s recommendations for water regulation in England and Wales in the second quarter of next year. This should be June 2025 and could run into August 2025.
What will happen after the commission has finished?
The recommendations from the water regulatory review led by Jon Cunliffe will form the basis of further legislation to attract long-term investment and clean up the country’s polluted waterways and coasts.
Why Jon Cunliffe?
Jon Cunliffe has been chosen to chair the review of water regulation in England and Wales. John has several decades of economic and regulatory experience. He is Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Jon Cunliffe was the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU at UKRep between January 2012 and November 2013.
From July 2007 to December 2011, Jon was the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Europe and Global Issues, the UK Sherpa for the G8 and G20, and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary responsible for EU coordination.
Who will be involved in reviewing water regulation and the potential overthrow of ofwat as well as Jon Cunliffe ?
The Commission will draw upon a panel of experts from across the regulatory, environment, health, engineering, customer, investor and economic sectors.
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (né Davies; born 22 January 1963) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Wales since August 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs since March 2024.
More about Steve
Steve was born in Hertfordshire 1963, St Albans, Hertfordshire. Between 1974 and 1981 He went to Verulam School. This Was known as St Albans grammar school for boys In 1974 when he started and became Verulam School one year into his time there in 1975, When he was 12. With a November birthday Steve will have been one of the older boys in his year.
Steve joined the labour party in 1979, the same year as Margaret Thatcher became prime minister.
His family worked at Odhams printing factory in Watford
He left the school in 1981, Aged 18 And started university two years later in 1983.
This is the same same year as Odhams printing factory in Watford closed, Where Steve’s parents and family members had been employed.
It’s easy to associate with Steve’s life experience. I can almost hear his mum saying: ‘Thatcher’s taken your dad’s job, but she’s not getting our house.’. It’s the sort of thing I can imagine my own mum saying.
And he married his partner of 14 years in july 2022, when he was 58. Steve, attributes their ability to do so to politics. I Is one of the reasons he believes in politics. It’s power and importance.
1974-1981, Verulam School, St Albans
Verulam School is an 11–18 boys state–funded secondary school with academy status in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, founded in 1938 as St Albans Boys' Modern School. The name was changed in the 1940s to St Albans Grammar School for Boys and in 1975 to Verulam School, based on the Roman name for St Albans
and went to university in Sheffield where he read English. He also got an MA.
1983-1986, English degree at the University of Sheffield, followed by an MA
More about Ifor
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Wales since August 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs since March 2024. He has been the Member of the Senedd for Ogmore since 2016.
He is welsh by birth and welsh-Italian by marriage. His uncle Ifor, was MP for Gower for many years. He was witness to devastation in South Wales communities during the long Thatcher years And a big fan of punk rock.
More about Jon Cunliffe
Jonathan was born in June 1953 and went to Manchester University.
At the University of Western Ontario is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. In a city Called London that even has a river Thames. In 2012, the university rebranded itself as "Western University" to give the school A more international identity.
He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath ("CB") in the New Year Honours 2001,[14]and made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours 2010.[15]
He is a Member, UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation
What is has jc said about chairing the water review?
Water Commission Chair Sir Jon Cunliffe said:
I’m honoured to be appointed as chair of the government’s new Water Commission. It is vital we deliver a better system to attract stable investment and speed up the building of water infrastructure.
Working over many years in the public sector, in environment, transport and the Treasury, and the Bank of England, I have seen how the regulation of private firms can be fundamental to incentivising performance and innovation, securing resilience and delivering public policy objectives.
I am looking forward to working with experts from across the water sector, from environment and customer groups and investors, to help deliver a water sector that works successfully for both customers, investors and our natural environment.
Sir Jon Cunliffe was the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU at UKRep between January 2012 and November 2013.
From July 2007 to December 2011, Jon was the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Europe and Global Issues, the UK Sherpa for the G8 and G20, and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary responsible for EU coordination. During this time, Jon was responsible for UK macroeconomic policy, international and EU policy and financial services. Jon was also the UK Representative on the EU Economic and Finance Committee, Chair of the EFC sub committee on the IMF (SCIMF), Chair of the Committee of IMF Deputies, and UK G7 and G20 Deputy. In addition, Jon was the Government representative Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee.
From 2000-2002 Jon was Managing Director for Financial Regulation, HM Treasury. He was Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury from 2002 – 2007, and Managing Director of the Macroeconomic and International Finance Directorate.
From 1980-1990, Jon worked in the Department of the Environment and Transport, including dealing with EU environment and transport policy issues. In the 1990s, he held various HM Treasury posts on EU and international finance including leading the Treasury’s work on operational independence of the Bank of England, the European Monetary Union and the international financial system (until 2000).
born into a strongly Labour family with roots in steel and rural West Wales, my earliest memories were campaigning with my mum and dad on behalf of my uncle Ifor, who was the MP for Gower for many years.
As a teenager and young man, I campaigned for the Labour Party, heavily politicised by the devastation I saw in South Wales communities during the long Thatcher years, but also by the apartheid struggle, the struggles for freedom by communist-controlled Eastern-bloc countries, and the many battles for equalities and rights here in the UK and across the world.
Though my world-view also came from my friends, and our love of punk music (the original punk music – Tom Robinson, SLF, the Clash, the Banshees etc). But it wasn’t all politics. Far from it. Those punk concerts were sheer adrenalin! I was also mad-keen on sports and on theatre – which is where I began my first full-time job after college and then university.
In fact, I met my wife Joanna in a sports and arts centre where I was working. She was doing aerobics there, I was hanging around pretending to work, and – well – one thing just led to another! Joanna introduced a whole new dimension into my life, but not just in the obvious ways. She drew me into the incredible Irranca family, a family of Italian stock who came to Wales in the 1950s and worked really hard to make a successful living in the valleys of South Wales.
Theirs is the story of so many immigrant families over many generations, and I’m so proud to be part of this new and extended family. So, while I started out as a simple Davies, when Joanna and I married, we became the Irranca-Davies family, part of this glorious Welsh-Italian community.
After a successful career in sport and arts management, in both the public and private sector, I made a massive leap. I took the chance to teach people what I had learnt by becoming a lecturer in Higher Education. With a young and growing family of three children, and a fulfilling and demanding role, I though that was it for the long haul.
But my life-long passion for politics, and campaigning as a grassroots activist, as well as my involvement in community projects as a volunteer, meant that the idea to stand for election was growing. I was soon ready to try!
On Valentine’s Day 2002, I was delighted to be elected as the Member of Parliament for the wonderful constituency of Ogmore.
After nearly 15 years of service in that role, including periods as a government Minister and more, I stepped down in order to stand for the National Assembly of Wales. I was duly elected in May 2016, re-elected in 2021, and I am currently the Member of the Senedd – our Parliament of Wales – for Ogmore. I can never thank my constituents enough for placing their continued trust and confidence in me as their MP, and now as their MS.
In March 2024 as part of the First Minister Vaughan Gething's new Cabinet, Huw was promoted to Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs. Under the leadership of First Minister Eluned Morgan I was proudly appointed as Deputy First Minister on 11 September 2024, in addition to retaining responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs matters.
There’s much more to this story of course, but I hope that has given you an insight into who I am, and why I am so proud to represent the people of Ogmore. It is an immense privilege, which I never take for granted, and which means I will always speak up for you in all that I do.
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