Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of HMRC’s attempts to tackle landfill tax fraud on unauthorised illegal waste sites; and how much money has been recovered from prosecutions in the last 3 years.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government applies Landfill Tax to disposals made at sites without an environmental disposal permit (unauthorised waste sites). This aims to deter non-compliance by making the illegal disposal of waste less profitable, and reinforcing the principle of “polluter pays”.

In the last 5 years, HMRC Landfill Tax compliance activities have generated a compliance yield of £1.3 billion.

HMRC have conducted over 250 compliance interventions over the last three years at illegal unauthorised waste sites, generating approximately £4.5 million in compliance yield.

HMRC also works closely with environmental regulators to identify and tackle disposals of unauthorised waste.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle illegal waste activities in (a) Worcestershire and (b) England.

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

Waste reforms will make it harder for organised criminals to exploit the waste system and that is why the Government is committed to introducing tighter controls on waste exemptions, introducing digital waste tracking from October 2026 beginning with waste receiving sites, and introducing new permit requirements for carriers, brokers and dealers. Connecting fragmented systems and digitising record-keeping will ultimately make it harder for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime, from fly tipping to illegal waste sites to illegal waste shipments.

In Worcestershire, recent multi-agency work has resulted in the seizure of vehicles suspected of involvement in waste crime, thereby removing them off the road and preventing further illegal activity. Environment Agency investigators continue to gather evidence of suspected offenders with a view to pursuing enforcement action.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Environment Agency’s budget is for tackling illegal waste activity in the financial year 2025-26.

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

This financial year, the Government committed £12 million to the Environment Agency (EA) to fight waste crime. This is an additional £2 million to the £10 million it received in previous years. The funding will continue to afford resource of approximately 240 full-time equivalent across the EA to target waste crime; it is spent on specialised staff, such as enforcement officers, intelligence officers, financial investigators, and disclosure officers.

The EA also received £3 million for 2025/26 to enforce new duties introduced this year including the new Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility requirements. This helps to fund resources towards operational staff to tackle serious and significant offending.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites the Environment Agency has closed in the last three years.

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

In the period April 2021-March 2024, the Environment Agency stopped 1691 illegal waste sites.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Injury Prevention Consultancy entitled Impact of Injury ’24 report, published in March 2025, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure the safety of performers and crew in their place of work.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations provide a framework for securing the health, safety and welfare of those working in the sector. Employers and the self-employed are required to comply with this law. A further duty is placed on them by Regulation 3 of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the risks to those employees and non-employees in relation to risks arising from conduct of their undertaking and share the significant findings.

To help the industry comply with their duties under health and safety law, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides a wide range of guidance on common risks which may be applicable to activities within film, television and theatrical production. HSE also provides a range of guidance specific to film and television industry, describing the various roles and responsibilities of those within the production process (INDG360 - Health and safety in audio-visual production. Your legal duties) and guidance and information sheets for specific production activities and risks, e.g. stunts, use of firearms and filming while using vehicles. All guidance is freely available on the HSE website, a section of which is dedicated to health and safety in the film, theatre and broadcasting industries. Industry specific guidance is also available from a range of industry bodies and stakeholders.

HSE facilitates and chairs the Joint Advisory Committee for Entertainment (JACE). Membership is drawn from industry trade bodies, trades unions, large event facilities and the major national broadcasting organisations. It is a forum to consider problems in the industry, is a route for raising industry concerns with government, enforcing authorities, manufacturers, suppliers etc, and promotes improved health and safety standards within the industry, as encouraged in the report.