Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor and ensure that the National Highways meets its legal duty to ensure its land is kept clear of litter under sections 89(1) and (2) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

National Highways is monitored against a litter performance indicator as part of the Road Investment Strategy (RIS2). This requires them to report on the percentage of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) where litter is graded at B or above under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Litter Code of Practice. National Highways performance on this metric is reported to the Office for Road and Rail and published annually.

National Highways consider litter to be a very serious problem. It is harmful to the environment, damaging to their reputation, and upsets their customers. It also creates a risk to the substantial number of people who collect it, and uses resources that could instead be better used to improve the road network.