Bosses at six water firms had £4m in bonuses blocked under new rules, Ofwat says
Water company bosses were blocked from receiving £4m in bonuses for the last financial year – and the industry regulator is considering forcing companies to report pay received from parent companies after a Guardian investigation,Ofwat, the regulator for English and Welsh water firms, said six companies had complied with the new rules governing the sector and did not pay out bonuses to bosses,However, it is consulting on further rules to force the disclosure of payments by other companies after the revelation that Yorkshire Water’s chief executive, Nicola Shaw, had received £1,3m in secret payments via an offshore parent company,The government in June banned bonuses for water companies that failed to protect the environment from the worst pollution incidents, after widespread public outrage over the extent of sewage in Britain’s rivers and seas.
The six companies whose bonuses were banned this year were Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water, all of which did not give their directors an annual bonus and other relevant performance-related pay, according to Ofwat’s definitions.Despite the ban and the significant scrutiny on the sector, Guardian analysis found that the pay of water company chief executives in England and Wales rose by 5% in the last financial year to an average of £1.1m – although the pay awarded to the bosses of the six companies did fall.There were outliers even among the six: the £1.3m given to Shaw was only disclosed after the Guardian raised questions about the lack of transparency.
Ofwat said that the Yorkshire Water payments, made via an offshore company, had prompted it to make changes to the rules on pay reporting.“Yorkshire Water has since acknowledged it should have disclosed more about the payments and has committed to several actions to improve transparency of their remuneration reporting going forward,” Ofwat said in its pay report.“While greater transparency on executive remuneration is always welcome, we consider this should be the minimum of what should be expected of all water companies to follow.”Meanwhile, Southern Water awarded its chief executive, Lawrence Gosden, an 80% pay increase to £1.4m.
Southern said it had complied with the rules.Ofwat on Wednesday said the largest part of the increase was not counted as a bonus because it was part of a two-year “long-term incentive plan” implemented before the bonus ban was in place.Furthermore, the ban applied only to the chief executives and chief financial officers, leaving water companies including troubled Thames Water to pay controversial bonuses to other executives.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThames was also found to have displayed an “unacceptable” “lack of openness” over its management retention plan, which awarded payments to executives below chief executive level despite deep financial problems at Britain’s largest water company.Ofwat said this also added to the case for increased transparency requirements.
Anglian Water, which provides water mainly to the east of England, was also added by Ofwat to an “elevated concern” list for financial resilience because of questions over its investment plans after credit rating agency downgrades.
Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk cuts sales and profit forecasts again
The maker of Ozempic and Wegovy has cut its sales and profit forecasts as it continues to fall behind in the competitive market for obesity and diabetes treatments.Novo Nordisk’s chief executive, Mike Doustdar, who took the reins in August, said the reduced guidance was because of “the lower growth expectations for our GLP-1 treatments”.“The market is more competitive than ever more,” Doustdar said in a video message accompanying the company’s third-quarter results.The Danish pharmaceutical firm’s rate of profit growth has slowed and its share price has slid after losing ground to its US rival Eli Lilly, which makes the Mounjaro and Zepbound weight-loss injections. Clinical studies have shown that Mounjaro is more effective in causing weight loss than Wegovy
Bosses at six water firms had £4m in bonuses blocked under new rules, Ofwat says
Water company bosses were blocked from receiving £4m in bonuses for the last financial year – and the industry regulator is considering forcing companies to report pay received from parent companies after a Guardian investigation.Ofwat, the regulator for English and Welsh water firms, said six companies had complied with the new rules governing the sector and did not pay out bonuses to bosses. However, it is consulting on further rules to force the disclosure of payments by other companies after the revelation that Yorkshire Water’s chief executive, Nicola Shaw, had received £1.3m in secret payments via an offshore parent company.The government in June banned bonuses for water companies that failed to protect the environment from the worst pollution incidents, after widespread public outrage over the extent of sewage in Britain’s rivers and seas
Apple Watch SE 3 review: the bargain smartwatch for iPhone
Apple’s entry level Watch SE has been updated with almost everything from its excellent mid-range Series 11 but costs about 40% less, making it the bargain of iPhone smartwatches.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The new Watch SE 3 costs from £219 (€269/$249/A$399), making it one of the cheapest brand-new fully fledged smartwatches available for the iPhone and undercutting the £369 Series 11 and the top-of-the-line £749 Apple Watch Ultra 3
Experts find flaws in hundreds of tests that check AI safety and effectiveness
Experts have found weaknesses, some serious, in hundreds of tests used to check the safety and effectiveness of new artificial intelligence models being released into the world.Computer scientists from the British government’s AI Security Institute, and experts at universities including Stanford, Berkeley and Oxford, examined more than 440 benchmarks that provide an important safety net.They found flaws that “undermine the validity of the resulting claims”, that “almost all … have weaknesses in at least one area”, and resulting scores might be “irrelevant or even misleading”.Many of the benchmarks are used to evaluate the latest AI models released by the big technology companies, said the study’s lead author, Andrew Bean, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute.In the absence of nationwide AI regulation in the UK and US, benchmarks are used to check if new AIs are safe, align to human interests and achieve their claimed capabilities in reasoning, maths and coding
Australia keep options open with Ashes squad selection containing few surprises | Geoff Lemon
In the end, there were few surprises. Even the most forgone conclusion of an Ashes squad will still create weeks of speculation one way or another, but answering one question at the top of the order has knocked over the other unresolved ones, tipping like dominoes as we make our way down the list.Barring injury, the only new player in the eventual XI will be Jake Weatherald, the 31-year-old Northern Territorian who in cricketing terms became a South Australian and then a Tasmanian, earning his place over severals seasons of unflashy consistency and a willingness to counterattack. Weatherald would not have made the squad if he were not going to open the batting, which means that Marnus Labuschagne, who was always going to make the team one way or another after getting his run-scoring groove back, will bat three rather than moonlighting at the top.Labuschagne at three means that there is only room for one of Cameron Green or Beau Webster at six
Jake Weatherald in contention for Test debut after being named in Australia’s Ashes squad
Opener Jake Weatherald has won a place in Australia’s Ashes squad and is the leading contender to partner Usman Khawaja at the top of the order for the first Test in Perth.But the Tasmania batter has not yet secured a spot in the XI for the series opener, with chief selector George Bailey saying he would wait until the end of the coming round of Sheffield Shield matches before making a decision on the final line-up.“I think if you look at [Weatherald’s] performance over 18, 24 months, it’s been really solid,” Bailey said. “There’s a method there that I think we like and is complimentary to those other players around him in the squad. He scores at a good rate, the way he goes about building his innings has been impressive
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