Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Monday 23rd May 2011 Ministerial Corrections

Departmental Waste Review

The following are the answers given by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), relating to questions from the hon. Member for North Tyneside (Mrs Glindon) during Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Question Time on 12 May 2011.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

1. What recent representations she has received from local authorities on her Department’s waste review.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

My ministerial colleagues and I have met a wide range of local authority representatives to discuss our review of waste policy in England. Eighty local authorities, and a range of partnership groups, responded to our call for evidence and many have participated in subsequent discussions with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials, emphasising the diversity of local circumstances.

[Mrs Glindon]

Can the Secretary of State tell me what DEFRA is doing to help local authorities to crack down on persistent fly-tippers in rural and urban areas?

[Mrs Spelman]

Responsibility for dealing with fly-tipping is also a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government, and I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware that, over time, the fines have been increased. The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 makes provision for penalties for fly-tippers, and I want to make it perfectly clear from DEFRA’s perspective that it is a practice that we abhor, and that we seek to catch and prosecute those who perpetrate it.

[Official Report, 12 May 2011, Vol. 527, c. 1333.]

An error has been identified in an oral answer given on 12 May 2011. It is the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended) that makes provision for penalties for fly-tippers, not the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

The correct answer should have been:

[Mrs Spelman]

Responsibility for dealing with fly-tipping is also a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government, and I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware that, over time, the fines have been increased. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended) makes provision for penalties for fly-tippers, and I want to make it perfectly clear from DEFRA’s perspective that it is a practice that we abhor, and that we seek to catch and prosecute those who perpetrate it.