Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment he has made of the rate of recycling household waste by (a) Brighton and Hove City Council and (b) other local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Recycling statistics are collected by DEFRA. In 2013-14, Brighton and Hove Council had a recycling rate (percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting) of 26 per cent. This is amongst the lowest 25 councils in England.

To place this in context and to compare with similar, coastal towns, I would note that Bournemouth Borough Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council are recycling roughly half their household waste, and are providing a weekly collection of residual waste. This illustrates the scope for councils to have high recycling rates and still provide a weekly service for local taxpayers.

Brighton and Hove Council has received financial support from my Department to help increase recycling, so we will want to see progress in these rates being improved. If the Council has failed to do so, then the ruling administration on the Council should rightly be held to account.