Oral Answers to Questions

John Glen Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy]

It is good to hear about a council being proactive and cleaning up some of this mess. I agree that graffiti and fly-tipping offences are unacceptable. Graffiti is a separate offence from fly-tipping, but local councils can issue fixed penalties of up to £500 for graffiti offences, and we are consulting on powers for councils to use conditional cautions, requiring offenders to clean up their mess and cover the clean-up costs, instead of simply walking away from the damage they cause.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

A constituent got in touch with me last week to point out that farmers are often the ones who are left to deal with fly-tipping, but I note in the Government’s response on Tuesday that insurance is one option that could be available. What progress is the Minister making in talking to insurance companies about making fly-tipping part of a routine farm policy that farmers could take out against this scourge?

[Emma Hardy]

The right hon. Gentleman raises an important point. I absolutely sympathise with farmers, who, as he rightly highlighted, often see repeated dumping on their private land. As I mentioned, there is the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group. I meet insurers regularly—in fact, I met them all last week—and I will certainly raise the issue of how we can ensure that farmers get the support they need in having to deal with a problem that is simply not of their making.