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 (a) effectiveness and (b) adequacy of the severity of the deterrent for flytipping.

We expect local authorities to investigate all incidents of fly-tipping, including those on private land, prosecute fly-tippers when there is sufficient evidence and recover investigation, enforcement and clearance costs where possible.

Investigations have consistently been the most common action taken against fly-tipping incidents over time, accounting for 69% of all actions in 2020/21, with 316,000 investigations in total. This is an increase of 7% from 2019/20, where 296,000 investigations were carried out.

In 2016 we legislated to introduce a fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping of up to £400.

In addition, vehicles of those suspected of committing a waste crime, including fly-tipping, can be searched and seized.

For more serious offences, prosecution allows for both an unlimited fine and up to five years imprisonment. While sentencing is a matter for courts, we have worked with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to develop a guide to help local authorities and others present robust cases to court as a means of securing tougher sentences. We intend to publish this shortly.

I was pleased to see that Aylesbury Crown Court recently sentenced a serial fly-tipper who dumped rubbish in multiple local authorities to 21 months in prison and ordered his van seized.