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Meetings are attended by senior members of the stakeholder organisations referred to in S5W-20806.

The Scottish Government will work with all relevant interests before making any changes to the discounts which apply to water and sewerage charges.

Changes to water charges affect nearly all household and business customers in Scotland. The Scottish Government welcomes input from all customers when considering the principles which apply to water charges.

Discussions between Ministers preceded the publication of the consultation paper Investing in and paying for your water services from 2021 .

The Scottish Government is in the process of developing the Principles of Charging document for the period 2021-27. As part of this process, we will work with stakeholders and customers to explore the discounts which apply to water charges.

It is understood that this question relates to “deemed contracts” in terms of s.20A of the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005. This section applies to licensed providers and end-customers rather than to Scottish Water. The terms of the scheme are operated by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).

The effect of s.20A is to “deem” that arrangements have been made between the licensed provider and the occupier of premises in circumstances where water is supplied to, or waste water is disposed of from, eligible premises in circumstances where the licensed provider and the occupier have not taken the necessary steps to “make arrangements” for these services but the services are, as a matter of fact, made available. The effect is to ensure that the occupiers of premises which have water and waste services are required to pay for those services and cannot avoid liability for payment for the available service by avoiding taking the steps necessary on their part to “make arrangements” with the licensed provider.

WICS is required, under s.20B, to set out the terms and conditions which will be incorporated into any arrangements which are deemed, under s.20A, to have been made between the licensed provider and the occupier of the premises. A copy of WICS’ deemed contracts scheme is available at https://www.watercommission.co.uk/view_Deemed_Contracts.aspx .

I refer the member to the answer to S5W-20806 on 16 January 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Scottish Water can make payment to customers as a result of asset failures that have triggered Service Standard payments or claims made and settled via Scottish Water’s Public Liability Insurance.

Scottish Water supplies water and waste water services to over 5 million customers across Scotland via 60,000 miles of pipes and thousands of assets. If there is an asset failure (such as flooding caused by a burst water pipe) which has affected customers and Scottish Water is liable, these claims are fully assessed and settled via Public Liability Insurance. Scottish Water also operates under an agreed Service Standards framework to also protect customers’ interests and pay where there is a service failure.

Scottish Water’s Service Standards can be viewed at: https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/contact-us/our-promise-to-you/our-services-your-rights/our-service-standards

The payments listed below are for Public Liability cases over the last 4 years.

Public Liability Compensation Payments to Customers by Scottish Water

The Student Loans Company (SLC) estimate that, at the end of 2017-18, there was an estimated outstanding student loan balance of
‎ £4,984.5 million. Of this, they estimate that:

(a) Information on the proportion of the total outstanding balance that is due to the repayment threshold is not publically available or held centrally by the Scottish Government. A request can be made directly to the SLC for this information.

(b) £10.6 million (0.2%) is due to default by the recipient.

Source: SLC (2018) Student loans debt and repayment, https://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/scotland.aspx ).

The National Bereavement Care Pathway for Pregnancy and Baby Loss is in the early stages of development in Scotland. The project approach will be developed over the next two years. Scottish Government has provided funding of £94,000 to the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (Sands) to lead the work with other baby loss charities, bereaved parents, health care professionals and Royal Colleges. It is expected that the pathways will provide a toolkit of practical guidance and training tools for all healthcare professionals working with bereaved parents in order to ensure they receive the best possible care.