Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether community service sentences may include picking up litter in (1) rural, and (2) urban, areas.

Where a court imposes an unpaid work requirement as part of a community sentence or suspended sentence order, the local Community Rehabilitation Company provides work placements in accordance with a range of criteria including:

• that the work benefits the local community;
• that the work undertaken is not a direct substitution for paid employment; and
• the views of local people and community stakeholders such as the police are taken into account.

Any proposal for unpaid work involving litter collection would have to be considered with reference to the requirements for unpaid work placements which form part of the service specifications and can be found at https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/probation-instructions/pi_02_2010_unpaid_work_community_payback_service_specification.pdf.