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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's weekly collection support scheme; whether that scheme is still in use; and how many local authorities were awarded funding through that scheme.

The Department’s Weekly Collection Support Scheme has been a success. It has protected weekly collections of residual waste for 6 million households and demonstrated how councils with weekly collections can deliver cost-effective, convenient waste services for residents while seeing their recycling rates increase. Light-touch monitoring of the scheme has ensured councils are spending money on the projects set out in their bids, and has captured good practice. The 81 local authorities awarded funding through the scheme are expected to monitor and evaluate the performance of their projects and to volunteer to make that data publicly available.

While the scheme’s funding was allocated over the course of three years (2012-15), the scheme runs for five years and comes to an end in November 2017.

This Government continues to encourage councils to support the wishes of local people about regularity of bin collections and champions frequent and convenient waste collections which protect the environment and public health.