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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to coordinate (a) Police and Crime commissioners, (b) the Environment Agency and (c) local police forces to ensure that they are adequately responding to fly-tipping.

Defra is committed to working with partners to stamp out the menace of fly-tipping wherever we can. Our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy set out our strategic approach to tackling waste crime, including fly-tipping. Our focus is on enabling local action by providing a clear legal framework of rights, responsibilities and powers and setting national standards.

Local authorities and the Environment Agency are encouraged to work in partnership with national and local police bodies in carrying out their enforcement functions against fly-tipping. Defra are working with a wide range of interested parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) to raise awareness of fly-tipping and to develop a fly-tipping toolkit. Members of the NFTPG include local authorities, the National Police Chiefs Council and the Environment Agency. The toolkit will support partnership working, intelligence sharing, dealing with fly-tipping associated with unauthorised encampments and the use of technology to report fly-tipping.

In the Environment Bill, we are bringing forward measures to go further, giving agencies and authorities enhanced powers of entry and access to evidence to strengthen their ability to tackle waste crime, and enhancing our ability to track waste and to crack down on rogue operators.