内容摘要：The Hayes and Harlington MP said: "When legislation of this nature is being introduced that is serious and could be contentious, it's critically important that ministers use careful language.

The Hayes and Harlington MP said: "When legislation of this nature is being introduced that is serious and could be contentious, it's critically important that ministers use careful language.

The changes would mean that recent outages inearlier this year would have automatically led to compensation for all customers, where there was no entitlement before.

Under the proposals, there will be a minimum payment of £40.Based on an average annual water and sewerage bill of £440, this would be around 10% of the average annual customer bill, with several higher payments worth at least a quarter.An issue like low pressure could see payments of up to £250 and internal flooding from sewers could trigger compensation of as much as £2,000.

The standards companies are expected to meet are outlined in the, which sets a baseline for customer service in the water sector.

They include providing timely restoration of water supply following an interruption, responding to written complaints and managing the risk of sewer flooding.

Subject to an eight-week consultation, the government's proposals will double payments for all existing standards.There, people can get advice on "literally anything", Ms Newman said, such as writing a CV or filling out forms, or make suggestions on "what they feel they're missing at the moment".

She said the aim was to involve hard-to-reach families in Welland, which is one of the most deprived areas of the city."We've got some work to do in winning over people's trust," she said.

"It does feel as though people are a little bit insular, a lot of people felt like it's difficult to connect with people."If we just get a few people to start with, then they can see how friendly we all are, and how much we want to help."