Mr. Douglas Millican:

Scottish Water is publicly owned and any change in status would require a decision of the Scottish Parliament. We have been able to run Scottish Water very successfully in public ownership and have used it very effectively to say to staff they are driving for service improvements and efficiencies in order to deliver benefits to customers and communities. We do not have household meters but business meters. We use district meters in identifying and driving down leakages. We are similar to Welsh Water in having an assisted supply pipe repair policy and work with customers to repair supply pipes where it is reasonable to do so.

On single house wastewater systems, we provide a septic tank emptying service across Scotland. We are required by law to provide this service at the same cost wherever in the country, on the mainland or an island, a customer is based.