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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to counteract the rise in fly-tipping.

Tackling fly-tipping is a priority for the Government. As set out in our manifesto we will be giving councils the power to issue fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping as well as reviewing the existing fixed penalty notices for littering.

These steps will build on other Government action to tackle fly-tipping, which has included; working with the Sentencing Council on its guideline for sentencing for environmental offences, which came into force on 1 July last year; making it easier for vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime to be stopped, searched and seized; and continuing work in partnership with others through the Defra chaired National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to promote and disseminate good practice in the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipped waste.