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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on steps being taken to (a) prevent fly-tipping and (b) remove fly-tipped waste.

Defra ministers and officials regularly talk to local authorities, including around issues relating to fly-tipping. Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), which include local authorities, to share best practice on tackling fly-tipping. We are currently developing a fly-tipping toolkit and the first part has recently been published on the NFTPG website. The NFTPG has also previously produced guides on preventing fly-tipping and roles and responsibilities.

This year we are providing capital funding of £450,000 through our fly-tipping intervention grant to enable several councils to implement a range of measures to tackle fly-tipping. We intend to run a second round later this year.