Recommendations & Conclusions
23 items
2
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Official data do not capture the true scale and impact of waste crime, and government initiatives do not amount to a convincing overall plan to address this. Waste crime is greatly under-reported, so government and Agency statistics do not capture the full impact it has on communities, businesses and the …
Government response. The government agrees and says the Environment Agency is exploring data partnerships, satellite technology, digital waste tracking and notifications of waste to explore fraud and error in waste crime. They will also use the national waste crime survey and prioritise …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Over recent years the landfill tax regime has successfully encouraged recycling but has increased the incentives to commit waste crime, and HMRC has been slow to prosecute offenders. Landfill tax, introduced in 1996, has driven down the amount of waste sent to landfill and increased recycling, but has increased the …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation that HMRC should report by the end of the year on how it has improved its approach to landfill tax prosecutions and will provide a response outlining this within the specified time period. The …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Defra is not doing enough to support local authorities to tackle fly-tipping. Fly-tipping has a big impact on the public: there were well over a million recorded incidents in England in 2020–21. Reported fly-tipping in urban areas is high while fly-tipping can blight lives in rural areas despite remaining substantially …
Government response. The government states that it has already strengthened local authority enforcement powers, such as providing councils with powers to issue fixed penalty notices and is working with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) to develop a fly-tipping toolkit to share …
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
We are concerned that the Agency is not doing enough to prevent the illegal export of waste. The Agency estimates that around 14 million tonnes of waste are legitimately exported each year. In the five years to 2020–21, the Agency inspected 1,100 shipping containers per year on average, preventing around …
Government response. The government agrees and states that the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency sent a response to the committee on November 30th. HMRC is collaborating with the agency to estimate the scale of illegal exports and potential losses.
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
The digital waste tracking system is still in development after four years despite its implementation being core to combatting waste crime. Recording waste movements digitally rather than on paper is an important initiative from the 2018 Waste and Resources Strategy. Defra and the Agency believe it will give them an …
Government response. The government will write to the committee when the IT contract is let (anticipated by the end of 2022) to confirm that it has happened and provide a timeframe for full implementation.
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
The 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy does not set out a pathway to government’s ultimate goal of eliminating waste crime by 2043.18 Defra acknowledged that its reporting on progress implementing the strategy and towards this goal has been limited. The Agency told us how it is expanding its metrics beyond …
Government response. The government agrees and will provide the committee with its outline plan for achieving the elimination of waste crime by 2043 by October 2022, and provide annual updates on progress against this plan. They will also evaluate the Resources and …
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
The 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy acknowledged there were serious gaps in the national data on waste.21 When we asked how action to combat waste crime could be prioritised without good quality data, Defra told us “There is quite a lot more that we want to do” to improve data …
Government response. The government agrees and will explore the full range of potential solutions to data weaknesses, including satellite technology, and ensure successful delivery of existing initiatives to improve data. They are working together to improve existing data sets to better capture …
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Defra and the Agency told us about a range of initiatives to improve data, including recent consultations on introducing digital waste tracking and reforming the system for registering as a waste carrier, broker or dealer.26 The Agency told us it was working more closely with the legitimate waste industry to …
Government response. Defra and the agency are working together to improve existing data sets, commissioning new surveys and research if necessary, and will explore a full range of solutions to data weaknesses including satellite technology.
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Stakeholders emphasised the need to ensure timely, effective delivery and implementation of the government’s initiatives. The Environmental Services Association wrote that tighter requirements to prevent criminals entering the sector “must be developed and pushed through with urgency”, while ADEPT also supports improving data to help expose rogue operators.29 Large waste …
Government response. Defra and the agency are working together to improve existing data sets, commissioning new surveys and research if necessary, and will explore a full range of solutions to data weaknesses including satellite technology.
HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Stakeholders who wrote to us were largely positive about digital waste tracking.40 SUEZ emphasised that new legislation needs to be supported by clear penalties for non-compliance and investment in regulatory staff and systems to enable appropriate monitoring and enforcement.41 Defra and the Agency were not able to set out clearly …
Government response. Defra will write to the committee when the IT contract is let to confirm that it has happened and what the plan is for full implementation, with the contract anticipated to be let by the end of 2022.
HM Treasury
14
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Defra told us that an in-house digital delivery team is working on a prototype digital waste tracking system and it has engaged a panel of 1,600 users to help with testing.43 This follows £1.4 million of funding awarded to tech companies in two rounds of the GovTech Catalyst competition, resulting …
Government response. Defra will write to the committee when the IT contract for the digital waste tracking system is let, anticipated by the end of 2022, and will provide a timeframe for full implementation once the supplier is onboarded.
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) explained that landfill tax was introduced in 1996 to encourage the public and organisations that generate or process waste to move away from using landfill to dispose of waste, and that revenue generation is not its primary purpose.52 The tax comprises a lower rate for …
Government response. The government agrees to ensure the current review of landfill tax takes account of the incentives that the tax as currently designed creates to commit waste crime. They will consider the structure of the tax and the impacts of any …
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
HMRC estimates that the amount of landfill tax due but not collected was £200 million in 2019–20. The Environmental Services Association told us that proportionally this is the second highest tax gap across all taxes, which HMRC agreed with.56 We heard from HMRC that this lost revenue comprises tax avoided …
Government response. The government agrees to ensure the current review of landfill tax takes account of the incentives that the tax as currently designed creates to commit waste crime. They will consider the structure of the tax and the impacts of any …
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
The Agency told us how current sanctions often have limited deterrent effect. It considers that the only penalty that makes a difference to many waste criminals, particularly one from an organised crime group, is a custodial sentence, but even when these are imposed they are often not long enough to …
Government response. Defra, the Agency and HMRC should work with relevant bodies within the criminal justice system to develop a plan for making enforcement more effective across the full spectrum of waste crime, including how to speed the process up and consideration …
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
It is widely believed across the waste sector that there has been a steady rise in the involvement of organised crime groups over recent years.69 We heard from the Agency and HMRC of the challenges involved in taking such criminals to court, and how they can afford good legal teams.70 …
Government response. Defra, the Agency and HMRC should work with relevant bodies within the criminal justice system to develop a plan for making enforcement more effective across the full spectrum of waste crime, including how to speed the process up and consideration …
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
We queried why the number of successful prosecutions has dropped dramatically over the past 15 years and why investigations were taking longer and longer.72 The Agency told us that prosecutions, despite their potential effectiveness at deterring waste crime, are a last resort because they tend to be slow, complex and …
Government response. Defra, the Agency and HMRC should work with relevant bodies within the criminal justice system to develop a plan for making enforcement more effective across the full spectrum of waste crime, including how to speed the process up and consideration …
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Advice and guidance or warning letters are the most common responses for most types of waste crime, and we pushed the witnesses on whether they were using the right balance of enforcement actions.77 The Agency described how it takes a proportionate, risk-based and outcome-focused approach, and that providing advice and …
Government response. The government agrees and will work with relevant bodies within the criminal justice system to develop a plan for making enforcement more effective across the full spectrum of waste crime, including how to speed the process up and consideration of …
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
The Agency estimates that around 14 million tonnes of waste are legitimately exported each year. The Agency told us that tackling illegal export of waste is “one of our top priorities” and “we are active in trying to stop it”.81 It accepts this will require the 71 Qq 55–56, 65–67 …
Government response. The government agrees and the Environment Agency provided a written response to the committee on November 30th. HMRC is also collaborating with the agency to produce an estimate of the scale of illegal exports and the potential losses to the …
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
We asked the Agency about its efforts to stop illegal exports and its performance in doing so. In response, the Agency highlighted the waste it successfully prevents being illegally exported, saying it prevented about 18,000 tonnes last year.84 Over the five years to 2020–21, on average two-thirds of the waste …
Government response. The government agrees and the Environment Agency provided a written response to the committee on November 30th. HMRC is also collaborating with the agency to produce an estimate of the scale of illegal exports and the potential losses to the …
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
The Agency also highlighted its recent achievement in securing fines of £1.5 million against a large waste company for waste export illegalities.89 The Agency has been keen to publicise this record fine for waste export breaches that the judge called “reckless, bordering on deliberate”. However, despite the company having been …
Government response. The government agrees and the Environment Agency provided a written response to the committee on November 30th. HMRC is also collaborating with the agency to produce an estimate of the scale of illegal exports and the potential losses to the …
HM Treasury
26
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Local authorities reported 1.1 million incidents of fly-tipping during 2020–21 to Defra.91 However, Defra recognises that some local authorities provide incomplete figures, and that coverage of fly-tipping on private sector land is not good enough.92 Other stakeholders made similar points more strongly: written evidence from academics stated that “Waste crime …
Government response. Defra should work with local authorities to set a clear national framework for tackling fly-tipping, setting overall expectations and promoting good practice, while allowing local authorities the flexibility to respond to local circumstances with a target implementation date of December …
HM Treasury
27
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Defra told us that “Local authorities have the responsibility to deal with fly-tipping” while Defra’s role is to support authorities and provide tools for carrying out this work. However, Defra’s statutory guidance presents a less straightforward picture of local authority responsibilities. Local authorities have a duty to keep specified land …
Government response. The government will work with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) to develop a toolkit for local authorities, with the first part on prosecutions already published and the second part on partnerships expected in early 2023; will also build on …
HM Treasury
28
Recommendation
Eighteenth Report - Government actions …
Accepted
Defra told us it has invested in the development of apps to make reporting of fly- tipping, such as on private land, to local authorities easier.103 Defra said it is developing a fly-tipping toolkit to share best practice, the first element of which relates to putting together robust cases for …
Government response. The government agrees to work with local authorities to set a clear national framework for tackling fly-tipping, setting overall expectations and promoting good practice, while allowing local authorities the flexibility to respond to local circumstances; target implementation date is December …
HM Treasury