Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to increase enforcement powers to tackle (a) fly-tipping and (b) littering in (i) Huddersfield and (ii) similar towns.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to tackle fly-tipping and littering. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 for fly-tipping and £500 for littering, and prosecution action which can lead to significant fine or even imprisonment and vehicle seizure. We encourage councils to make good use of these powers and we are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support local authorities to consistently and effectively exercise these existing powers.

We have also announced a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

We are also committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Additionally, we will move the regulation of waste carriers, brokers and dealers from light-touch registration into environmental permitting. This will enhance the Envrionment Agency’s ability to take action in this area and make it harder for rogue operators to operate. Penalties set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990, such as prison sentences of up to 5 years, will also become applicable to breaches of the new regulations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take with (a) colleges, (b) universities and (c) employers to increase the number of (i) apprenticeships and (ii) skills-based training places for young people from Huddersfield.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As part of our plan to Get Britain Working, the government will launch a new Youth Guarantee for young people aged 18 to 21 in England to ensure that they are supported to access high quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.

This is alongside the launch of Skills England, which will support skills training opportunities for young people, and local skills improvement plans which bring employers, providers and local leaders together to collaboratively identify and address skills needs of local areas.

The government supports colleges to provide skills training, including through over £7.5 billion of 16 to 19 programme funding which will be invested during the 2024/25 academic year to ensure young people are developing the skills they need to succeed in work and in life.

The government is working with universities on access and participation and we will support the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, regardless of their background, where they live and their personal circumstances.

We are also widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer which will include new foundation apprenticeships, giving more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working lives.