The final party conference season before next year’s general election was an important one for Dan Rogerson.
It was one that pushed the water minister, and the water industry, into the spotlight – as if the approach of winter and the threat of a repeat of last winter’s flooding were not enough.
Sitting relaxed in the small armchair in his ministerial office, the proud Liberal Democrat is certainly up for the fight – not only with Labour, but also with those of a blue political persuasion in the coalition.
“We’ve done a hell of a lot more than what happened under the last government.”
A combative Rogerson, who is also an avid ambassador for his North Cornwall constituency, is not willing to shy away from the clash the shadow environment secretary started at the annual political grandstanding event.
Labour’s Maria Eagle – who has set her sights on the top role in Rogerson’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) – used her party’s conference in Manchester to state that the much touted “cost of living crisis” is impacting on water customers, with high bills. Her party, should Labour win the general election in May, would ensure the water companies are treating their customers fairly, and would set up a national affordability scheme for those struggling to pay.
This attack on the industry that Rogerson deals with on a daily basis is not one he is willing to just lie down and accept – not when political points can be scored.
“I really think Labour is playing catch-up,” he tells Utility Week. “They are trying to deal with the situation as it was, when prices were much higher under the regime they left us, rather than where we are now.
“It’s not getting as much traction as they hoped it would, politically.”
And addressing the issue of social tariffs – and not wanting to be seen as sidestepping the issue – he says “it is important” for his department and the industry to make progress on helping those struggling to pay their bills, but only “where they’re right and customers are supportive of that”.
He cites Northumbrian Water as a prime example of a water company that has repeatedly asked its customers whether it should offer a social tariff, but has “not got it past them”.
The issue of cost is a hot topic in the sector at the moment as Ofwat makes up its mind on the price review and the final determinations, due in December. This, Rogerson says, is “Ofwat’s baby – and rightly so” but he is eager to highlight to role the coalition, and the Lib Dems, have had, adding: “I think the price review has shown that the framework we set as a government has been supportive of Ofwat and the job they’ve had to do.”
Rogerson’s political point-scoring doesn’t end there; he goes on to state how the Lib Dem policy of increasing the personal allowance threshold to £10,500 a year – “which I’m delighted to see the prime minister so supportive of now” – has helped those who are struggling to meet their household bills.
While affordability is not the only issue he faces, Rogerson says it will be a problem all the political parties will have to address in the run-up to the election. But the water minister is keen to highlight that how cheap water and wastewater services are is not the only factor the sector needs to think about.
Investment and sustainability – those major Lib Dem issues – are also vital.
“People are quite rightly concerned about water security and also about environmental quality,” he says, relaxing further as he gets on to a topic he feels especially at home with.
“We hear from people in the communities as well as lobby groups and non-governmental organisations – as you would expect – who want to see water bodies improve and want to make sure that we have made the important decisions.”
Sounding slightly more like his senior coalition partners, Rogerson says how important it is for the water companies to not only invest in the sector, but also for them to make money – “they are businesses, after all”.
Singing the praises of the Water Act, which finally made it through Parliament last year, he says: “We’re going to end up with an industry that is able to invest and able to raise that capital it needs to continue to improve and innovate, but at the same time have more affordable bills for people.”
An important part of this sustainability angle is ensuring houses are protected from the worst effects of water – that is, flooding – but also that there will be enough for the ever-expanding population of the UK, and the southeast in particular.
The issue of sustainable urban drainage systems (Suds) began rumbling way before Rogerson departed the Efra committee and headed up Abingdon Street to the Defra offices.
But Suds, despite its omission from the Water Act – which Rogerson took stewardship of in its final stages in the Commons – remains “important”, especially as the water minister tells me it is one of the final points to be implemented from Sir Michael Pitt’s review of the serious flooding in 2007.
Rogerson says Suds is a “separate issue” to the Water Act, and that’s why it was never incorporated into it.
“There could be all sorts of benefits ,” he says. “What will be interesting is that we’re not being too prescriptive about who’s providing it in the long term.”
The open-ended nature of Suds is part of what excites Rogerson in terms of the various possibilities and solutions, but it is also why it still has yet to become legislation, almost three years after Defra opened a consultation on its implementation.
“It may be local authorities want to take it on themselves, or it may be that water companies want to get into that area.
“The important thing now is conversations with developers and local authorities on the planning side and that is what we’re moving forward with.”
Abstraction reform is another issue slowly trundling through Defra; so slowly that Rogerson admits “it’s not going to be something that’s going to be legislated under this government”.
As for his department not doing enough to get it over the line within this government’s five years in office, Rogerson denies that feet have been dragged.
“We’ve made some real progress,” he says, springing to the defence of the government. “There are things happening on this now.”
The elements being pushed through in the dying days of the coalition include the Environment Agency acting to end over-abstraction, and removing the right of abstraction licence holders to claim compensation should that licence be changed.
The minister, sitting up as if to show the strength of the government in pushing ahead with these reforms, says: “While this is a contentious area, I think there is agreement for reform. The system has been there since the 1960s, so it is time for some change.”
And it is not just abstraction that Rogerson thinks the government can make “real progress” with, over the six months before the general election, when each political party will once again turn on all the others.
“I’ve mentioned the Act, but we can’t stop there. We’ve now got to implement everything and make sure we keep on track with that.”
One thing legislated for under the Water Act is the opening up of the non-domestic water retail market. Rogerson states that government – current and future – has “a big job” on its hands to see this through to the market opening up in 2017.
Once again showing hints of blue political sympathies, he says opening up the sector to market forces is “absolutely the right thing to do”. But the Lib Dem does save a barbed comment for the coalition’s senior partners. He smiles slyly as he says “there are huge benefits of being in the EU” ahead of the prime minister having “one last go” at clawing back powers from Brussels.
“The EU has played a great role in working with local governments to improve water quality. It’s good we have those discussions.”
While the next six months are set to be busy for Rogerson – with his to-do list full, and his in-tray set for a winter flood-led surge of letters and complaints – he still has one eye on the general election, and ensuring he remains in post after 7 May.