7 January 2009

Dear David

Homeserve Plumbing and Drainage Affinity Service with Scottish Water

Thank you for your online enquiry of 24 December 2008 which has been subsequently passed for my attention. I appreciate that your principal concerns relate to the perception of `junk' mail being created by Scottish Water requesting clarity on this point together with information on all data sources used.

I will be pleased to answer these issues but prior to doing so, it maybe helpful for me to provide a wider understanding of this service:

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.

We play a key role in protecting the nation's health by providing water and waste water services 365 days per year to 2.2 million households across an area that is one third of the size of Britain and have been working with Homeserve for several years to provide customers with a number of peace of mind products for plumbing and drainage emergencies including associated insurance products such as gas supply pipe cover.

We recognise that for many customers the possibility of an emergency failure of their internal or external plumbing, for example, is a real concern in terms of leaving a customer without water, reliant on finding a good plumber at short notice, and then having to pay for a call-out and repair charges.

There are a number of different approaches used in promoting the Homeserve products however Scottish Water does not issue any letters, communications or other mailings to customers in support of this activity. Furthermore, Scottish Water does not provide any data sources to Homeserve under our affinity agreement.

Notwithstanding this, all the material issued by Homeserve in promoting these products is carefully reviewed and approved by Scottish Water as we take seriously our responsibility to customers and would not want to cause customer concern, uncertainty or confusion. Furthermore, the approach adopted and the material used must meet ASA and FSA requirements.

I trust that this answers your concerns and I appreciate your taking the time to write seeking clarity on this activity. Your letter has been passed to Homeserve and also our Customer Marketing Team and will be considered as part of our ongoing review of new material as it is developed.

To minimise any future inconvenience or concerns, I would be pleased to request that Homeserve remove your details from their marketing database.

Yours sincerely

John Ewen

Commercial Development Manager

[email address]

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SCOTTISH WATER

Bullion House

Invergowrie

Dundee

DD2 5BB

Customer Helpline

T: 0845 601 8855

F: 01382 563275

W: www.scottishwater.co.uk

E: [email address]

Mr David Hansen

On-line Enquiry

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com