Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of HMRC’s attempts to tackle landfill tax fraud on unauthorised illegal waste sites; and how much money has been recovered from prosecutions in the last 3 years.

The Government applies Landfill Tax to disposals made at sites without an environmental disposal permit (unauthorised waste sites). This aims to deter non-compliance by making the illegal disposal of waste less profitable, and reinforcing the principle of “polluter pays”.

In the last 5 years, HMRC Landfill Tax compliance activities have generated a compliance yield of £1.3 billion.

HMRC have conducted over 250 compliance interventions over the last three years at illegal unauthorised waste sites, generating approximately £4.5 million in compliance yield.

HMRC also works closely with environmental regulators to identify and tackle disposals of unauthorised waste.