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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to use technology to apprehend (a) fly tippers and (b) other people dropping litter across the countryside.

Local authorities are usually best placed to respond to fly-tipping and littering problems in their area, and we encourage them to make good use of the enforcement powers at their disposal. We are conducting a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool, such as by using innovative techniques like drones and mobile CCTV cameras.

Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), through which we work with a wide range of interested parties, including local authorities, to share good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping, including on private land. The NFTPG has developed various practical tools including best practice case studies highlighting the use of technology such as CCTV to tackle fly-tipping. These are available at: https://nftpg.com/.