Scottish Water

Scottish Water was formed in 2002 out of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act (2002). It centralised the East, West and North water authorities.

The Water Industry Act (Scotland) Act 2002 effectively created a tripartite structure whereby the Scottish Executive set Ministerial Objectives, the Water Industry Commission sets the budget to deliver these objectives and Scottish Water carries out the work.

There are clear signs that the changes to the governance of Scottish Water is following a well worn path towards minimal state intervention, little public investment and more private involvement and competition. In fact, even though it is still a publicly owned utility Scottish Water adheres to market principles and systems. This includes downsizing the workforce and offering incentives to its management for ‘outperformance’, this is of course outperformance in an economic sense. As Scottish Water say ‘Scottish Water is a publicly owned business, answerable to the Scottish Parliament and the people of Scotland. This offers a new public sector model in the UK water industry and Scottish Water aims to be as efficient and effective as water companies in the private sector’ ^[1]

Advocates for Privatisation of Scottish Water

• Scottish Council Foundation
• Policy Institute
• Fraser of Allander Institute
• Jo Armstrong
• Donald Mackay
• David Bell
• Colin Robison
• Bill Jamieson
• The Scotsman

References

1. Scottish Water About us [2]