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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to reduce litter in (a) Watford constituency and (b) nationally.

Our new Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan sets out how we will support councils to take tougher action against those who litter. This includes significantly raising the upper limit on fixed penalty notices from £150 to £500, and measures to help councils issue more penalties.

Our Litter Strategy for England sets out our aim to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering within a generation. It contains a number of commitments and progress reports are available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england-progress-reports.

Since publishing the Litter Strategy, we have published guidance on the provision of litter bins and provided nearly £1 million across 44 councils to help councils purchase new bins. Watford Borough Council were one of the recipients of this grant funding.

We have also announced our plans for a Deposit Return Scheme for drinking containers. We estimate that where the rate of return reaches 90% in year 3 of the scheme there will be an equivalent 90% reduction of in-scope containers discarded as litter.