Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated by his Department to the Joint Unit for Waste Crime in the 2025-26 financial year; and whether he plans to allocate additional funding to support regional enforcement partnerships.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2025/26 the Government is providing £12 million to the Environment Agency (EA) to tackle waste crime. It is for the EA to decide how much of this is directed to the Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC), but in the current year it is funding 18 posts, an increase of 8 compared to 2024/25.
The EA is not the only contributor to JUWC capability; with permanent or time-limited resources being provided by other bodies.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to launch the digital waste tracking service; and what steps are being taken to ensure industry readiness.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra plans to launch the digital waste tracking service from April 2026. Industry working groups are beginning next month and increased engagement is planned through webinars, information published on GitHub (an online platform where information and software code can be shared openly), and through inviting users to begin using the developing service from Autumn as part of our private beta phase of development.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that landowners are not held financially responsible for clearing fly‑tipped waste from their private land.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the burden that clearing fly-tipped waste places on landowners. Local authorities are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their areas. We want to see an effective enforcement strategy at the centre of their efforts to tackle the problem, and we are taking steps to help councils make good use of their powers. Doing so can help deter criminals from dumping waste in our countryside in the first place.
Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers, including prosecution. Upon conviction, compensation for the landowner’s clearance costs can be secured. While sentencing is a matter for the court, the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on presenting robust court cases. The group also helps share best practice on preventing fly-tipping on private land. These, and other practical tools, are available from their webpage at: https://nftpg.com/.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an estimate of the annual profits generated by organised criminals who engage in waste crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is estimated that waste crime costs the UK economy around £1 billion per year. However, it is impossible to assess how much of this is “profit” for organised criminals.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising fixed‑penalty notice levels for fly‑tipping above the £1,000 maximum; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a publicly available league table for local authority fly‑tipping performance.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government no longer publishes a league table of local authority fly-tipping performance. Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and actions to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. In assessing the figures local authorities should not be classified as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ performers based purely on numbers of fly-tips and comparisons between local authorities should be made with care.
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment. We want to see councils make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to help them do this, such as by reviewing their powers to seize and crush vehicles to identify and remove barriers. There are no plans to increase the fixed penalty levels at this time.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to allocate funding to enable (a) local police forces and (b) community groups to use (i) ANPR cameras, (ii) roadside CCTV and (iii) drones to (A) investigate and (B) deter fly‑tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has no plans to allocate funding to enable local police forces and community groups to use ANPR cameras, roadside CCTV and drones to investigate and deter fly-tipping.
Fly-tipping is a blight on our communities and countryside with local authorities usually responsible for investigating and taking enforcement action. Their enforcement powers include prosecution, fixed penalty notices of up to £1,000 and seizing vehicles of fly-tippers.
We want to see local authorities take the fight to waste criminals and we are taking steps to help them do so. For example, we have announced a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool, such as by utilising existing technology like drones and mobile CCTV cameras. We are also currently taking steps to develop new guidance on fly-tipping enforcement to help local authorities across the country exercise their powers more consistently.
The procurement and positioning of ANPR cameras are operational decisions for Chief Officers. We want to see local authorities work in partnership with others, including the police, to share intelligence and bolster operational activity.
We will continue to work with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group to highlight and share best practice with regards to tackling fly-tipping. Various practical tools, including case studies involving CCTV and a guide on establishing partnerships, are available from their website https://nftpg.com/.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 increase coordination between (a) the Environment Agency, (b) local authorities and (c) police forces to tackle organised waste crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Joint Unit for Waste Crime, hosted by the Environment Agency, is a multi-agency taskforce established specifically to share intelligence and operational capability and capacity to tackle serious and organised criminality in the waste sector. When appropriate, this includes liaison and intelligence sharing with local authorities’
Since its formation in 2020 it has significantly enhanced interoperability and cooperation among criminal justice partners including the police, enabling more effective targeting of Organised Criminal Groups.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when statutory fly‑tipping enforcement guidance for local authorities will be published; and what his planned timeline is for its implementation.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance. Following Royal Assent, we will carry out a consultation with relevant stakeholders including local authorities. Once the consultation has concluded and responses taken into account, we will look to publish the guidance as soon as is practical.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vehicles were seized in relation to waste crime offences in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions, including vehicles seized, to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england.
We are conducting a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 28 April 2025 to Question 47228, what his plans for the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive are following the Spending Review.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our new Sustainable Farming Incentive offer will be more targeted to better meet priorities on food, farming and nature. More details on the offer will be available later in the summer.