Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce further incentives to encourage resource efficiency.

This Government is committed to encouraging resource efficiency. The resource and waste management sector has grown faster than the wider economy over the past two decades, while waste arisings have fallen. We are extracting significantly more economic value from each tonne of waste managed by the sector, a 43% increase from £32 to £46 per tonne since 2004. As such, there are already a number of incentives in place to promote resource efficiency, for example:

• Landfill Tax has reduced the amount of waste going to landfill by approximately 65% since its introduction in 1996, and has contributed to a threefold increase in household recycling;

• Enhanced Capital Allowances enable the cost of investment in water and energy-efficient equipment to be written off against taxable profits of the period in which the investment is made;

• Government–funded Innovate UK is to invest up to £800k in feasibility studies into the business case for retaining value in durable goods through reuse, remanufacture or leasing/maintenance. This competition opened on 2 March 2015;

• Government is funding Action Based Research projects to explore innovative ways for businesses to develop more resource-efficient systems and products. £1.2m of support is being provided over the lifetime of the current round of projects; and

• Government are providing £17.9m funding in 2014-15 for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to support English businesses, industry, civil society organisations, as well as local authorities and households in realising the benefits of resource efficiency and improved resource management.