Mr. Douglas Millican:

In terms of the broader system, I will, to a large extent, echo Mr. Jones's comments, because they also apply to us in Scotland. The point about legitimacy cannot be stressed enough. Before a company can begin to speak to customers about saving or conserving water, it must ensure it has its own house in order. The whole issue of customer engagement is interesting. One of the materials that we use is a document featuring an image of a child wearing a raincoat in torrential rain under the slogan "Saving water in Scotland. Really?" Saving water is a challenge because when people see abundant rain falling from the sky, they wonder why they need to save water at home.

We have been using a number of different conservation measures, one of which is to help people to understand the linkage between their use of water and their energy bills. A significant percentage of an energy bill is derived from heating water. We are working with the Energy Saving Trust in Scotland to convince people to think about water efficiency and energy efficiency at the same time. There is also a rich seam that involves trying to influence building standards. We have worked with the Scottish Government to try to have building standards tightened to ensure homes built in the future will be more water efficient than homes built in the past.

Another area in which we have been working is the social housing sector. In Scotland, social housing stock is typically refreshed with new kitchens, bathrooms and so on every ten years. We try to ensure that more water efficient fittings are installed when this work is done. A multi-tiered approach must be taken at company level and in the way in which the company engages with customers.