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Anne McIntosh to scrutinise DefraRoger Milne talks to Anne McIntosh, just installed as chair of the Defra Select Committee and the All-Party Parliamentary Water Group. The old adage about a week being a long time in politics has a special resonance for Anne McIntosh, the Conservative MP for the newly established constituency of Thirsk and Malton. She had every reason to expect a ministerial post in the new administration, having shadowed the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) since 2007. But her election was delayed for three weeks due to the death of an opponent. Her constituency was not declared until well after the coalition had been formed and the ministerial jobs doled out. All Party Parliamentary Water Group However, it has not been all bad news for the MP, who used to represent the Vale of York before boundary changes swept it away. She has become one of the joint chairs of the influential All-Party Parliamentary Water Group (APPWG) and she has just been voted in as chair of the Commons Select Committee that monitors Defra. She says: "It is disappointing not being called as a minister, but the committee is in a very privileged position of being able to scrutinise the work of the department and to hold the ministers firmly to account. You could say I was poacher turned gamekeeper." Will water issues loom large on the committee's agenda? McIntosh says it's too early to be specific about its work programme. "But given the interest and background of my new colleagues on the committee, I would be very surprised indeed if water sector issues did not feature in our early work. I personally am extremely interested to see if the Flood and Water Management Act is being applied, particularly in the near-drought conditions which currently prevail." Drought and flood As for the APPWG, she anticipates the group continuing to provide a platform for parliamentarians to influence the debate about the water sector. Drought and floods will be of particular interest, she says, "as well as issues surrounding a sustainable water supply at an affordable cost in all regions, but most notably in the southwest of England". The new government has already promised white papers on the natural environment and water. Is she happy about Defra's priorities? "As shadow minister I pressed for the early publication of the white paper on the broader water issues which had not been dealt with in the Flood and Water Management Act. I know that work has started on this and I will be pressing for an early�update." She is convinced that there is a groundswell of public support for more on this front. We talk about the aftermath of the Walker and Cave reviews. Both exercises posed a number of questions for the industry and the government which have yet to be resolved. Says McIntosh: "One of greatest challenges that the country is facing is the need for a lasting solution to the sustainable supply of water and the affordability of water customer bills, particularly in the southwest of England. I applaud the work of the Anna Walker review on water efficiency and shall be personally monitoring these developments closely, especially as regards the Energy Saving Trust." Competition She agrees with the Cave Review that the issue of competition needs to be addressed. "I believe we can learn from the Scottish experience. Water is not like electricity or gas, but if retail competition for business customers is introduced successfully, there could be real potential to extend it upstream and to residential customers. "Any move to residential competition must, though, be accompanied by strong measures to protect vulnerable customers and guard against cherry-picking to ensure that customers pay no more than they would have done in the pre-competition regime." McIntosh is one of the speakers at next week's Future Water 2010 conference, which is being held on 13 July at the Royal Geographical Society, London. Utility Week is the media partner. Ann McIntosh CV Born in Edinburgh in 1954, Anne was educated at Harrogate Ladies' College and studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aarhus in Denmark. After qualifying as a Scottish Advocate, Anne practised law in Edinburgh and Brussels and then worked for the Conservatives in the European Parliament. A former MEP, she became an MP in 1997 and has shadowed work and pensions, transport and culture, media and sport as well as the environment. She is married to a business executive and lives in York. Source: Karma Ockenden © Faversham House Group Ltd 2010. News articles may be copied or forwarded
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