Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Environment Agency’s budget is for tackling illegal waste activity in the financial year 2025-26.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This financial year, the Government committed £12 million to the Environment Agency (EA) to fight waste crime. This is an additional £2 million to the £10 million it received in previous years. The funding will continue to afford resource of approximately 240 full-time equivalent across the EA to target waste crime; it is spent on specialised staff, such as enforcement officers, intelligence officers, financial investigators, and disclosure officers.
The EA also received £3 million for 2025/26 to enforce new duties introduced this year including the new Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility requirements. This helps to fund resources towards operational staff to tackle serious and significant offending.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites the Environment Agency has closed in the last three years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the period April 2021-March 2024, the Environment Agency stopped 1691 illegal waste sites.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle illegal waste activities in (a) Worcestershire and (b) England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waste reforms will make it harder for organised criminals to exploit the waste system and that is why the Government is committed to introducing tighter controls on waste exemptions, introducing digital waste tracking from October 2026 beginning with waste receiving sites, and introducing new permit requirements for carriers, brokers and dealers. Connecting fragmented systems and digitising record-keeping will ultimately make it harder for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime, from fly tipping to illegal waste sites to illegal waste shipments.
In Worcestershire, recent multi-agency work has resulted in the seizure of vehicles suspected of involvement in waste crime, thereby removing them off the road and preventing further illegal activity. Environment Agency investigators continue to gather evidence of suspected offenders with a view to pursuing enforcement action.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle littering.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for keeping streets clear of litter with the role of central Government to support local action. The Pride in Place Strategy sets out how Government will support local action by bringing forward statutory enforcement guidance on both littering and fly-tipping, modernising the code of practice that outlines the cleaning standards expected of local authorities, and refreshing best practice guidance on the powers available to local authorities to force land and building owners to clean up their premises.
We are introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers due to go live in October 2027. Single-use drinks containers are some of the UK’s most commonly littered items, typically making up half of litter by volume. The Deposit Return Scheme is expected to drastically reduce litter.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding for specialised rural crime teams.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Rural crime can also have devastating consequences for countryside communities and the agricultural sector. This financial year we are providing the first Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit, a national policing unit which help forces tackle rural crime priorities and is a great example of farmers and police working together at national and local level.
Under our Safer Streets Mission reforms, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on equipment theft, anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will also ensure that every community in England and Wales will have named and contactable officers dealing with local issues, and that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses. This will be supported by the delivery of up to an additional 3000 officers into neighbourhood teams by Spring next year, as part of our ambition to deliver 13,000 neighbourhood officers into police forces across England and Wales by the end of this parliament.
We worked closely with policing to develop the Neighbourhood Policing Programme. Our approach to delivery in 2025/26, which is year 1 of a 4-year programme, is designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a manner that is flexible, and can be adapted to the local context and varied crime demands police forces face. The precise workforce mix is therefore a local decision.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the cap on fixed penalty notices that councils can issue for fly-tipping.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At present, we do not have plans to increase the cap on fixed penalty notices that councils can issue for fly-tipping. Councils can currently issue fixed penalty notices of up to £1000.
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which also include seizing vehicles and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance. We are also 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.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Canal and River Trust's decision to remove litter bins from canal towpaths on the effective management of litter on land owned by the Canal and River Trust.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As an independent charity, the Canal and River Trust is responsible for operational matters on its waterways and land owned by it, including litter management.
Under section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Trust has a duty to keep the land it is responsible for clear of litter and refuse. It is for the Trust to work out how best to comply with the duty, considering the standards set out in statutory Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. The Trust also has a responsibility to remove litter and fly-tipping in its canals where it would interfere with navigation.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent support he has provided to local authorities to help tackle fly-tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We want to see local authorities make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to help them do so. For example, we are currently reviewing their powers to seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify ways in which we help them make better use of this tool.
Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://nftpg.com/.
From 2026–27, the Government will deliver the first multi-year Settlement in a decade, fundamentally improving how we fund councils and directing funding to where it’s most needed. We’re committed to simplifying the wider local funding landscape by reducing the number of grants and consolidating them into the Settlement, so councils can plan more effectively. Detailed decisions will follow the funding reform consultation and be set out at the provisional Settlement later this year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps (a) his Department and (b) Natural England are taking to help tackle large-scale illegal waste dumping in ancient woodlands; and if he will review the adequacy of enforcement processes where (i) substantial environmental damage and (ii) tax evasion are suspected.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the first instance, landowners are responsible for the security and integrity of their property. The ownership of such woodland can often be complex and split across hundreds of individual parcels. The Environment Agency (EA) is the lead authority for investigating large scale illegal deposits of waste. However other partner agencies such as Natural England may also play a role in associated activity for example if tipping occurs within a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Where substantial environmental damage is suspected the EA will work quickly to gather evidence to show a risk of serious pollution to meet the legal requirements for a Restriction Order. Natural England also has a suite of enforcement powers that can address damage to protected sites.
The EA hosts the Joint Unit for Waste Crime which brings together the EA, HMRC, National Crime Agency, the police, waste regulators from across the UK and other operational partners to share intelligence and tasking to disrupt and prevent serious organised waste crime. The EA has also launched its Economic Crime Unit which targets the financial motivation behind offending and uses financial mechanisms to inhibit the ability of offenders, including Organised Crime Groups, to operate.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of fly-tipping on private land owners.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While no recent assessment has been made, we appreciate the difficulty and cost that fly-tipping poses to landowners and we are working with a wide range of interested parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, such as the National Farmers Union, to promote and disseminate good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.
We encourage local authorities to make good use of their enforcement powers which include prosecution. On conviction, a cost order can be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be recovered from the perpetrator.