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 Answer of 4 March 2021 to Question 160671, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending eligibility for the Waste and Resources Action Programme grant scheme to (a) schools, (b) businesses and (c) other public bodies in the UK.

The Binfrastructure grant scheme closed on the 10^th March 2021. Local authorities were able to work in partnership with Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) or other local partners when applying to the scheme, though grants could only be awarded to local authorities.

We believe that education, as well as getting businesses to take responsibility on litter, is important and this is reflected in our Litter Strategy, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england

We want every child to have the opportunity to learn about the impacts of litter. As well as the Eco-Schools programme run by Keep Britain Tidy, which 80% of schools in England participate in, there are many other resources available for schools to use should they wish to teach pupils about the impact of litter and the importance of not littering. Organisations such as Keep Britain Tidy, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Marine Conservation Society have all produced excellent resources for schools about litter and the damage that it can do to the environment.

We believe that businesses should try to reduce the amount of litter their products generate. The Litter Strategy sets out how we intend to work with the relevant industries to tackle certain types of particularly problematic litter, including fast-food packaging, smoking-related litter and chewing gum.