Recommendations & Conclusions
25 items
2
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Acknowledged
Businesses and local authorities still do not have the clarity they need from the Department to prepare for the changes that will be required, which risks increasing costs and delaying implementation. The collection and packaging reforms are reliant on businesses and consumers changing their behaviour by producing less, and recycling …
Government response. The government agrees but its response details existing and ongoing work (CPR programme, WEEE, batteries regulations, MRMW) and future hopes without providing the firm dates or clarity requested for packaging fees, local authority funding impact, or the simpler recycling consultation …
HM Treasury
3
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department is basing the design of the deposit return scheme on small trials and international experience, but a lack of like-for-like comparators may make it difficult to get the UK’s scheme right. The National Audit Office recommended the Department considers piloting the scheme due to uncertainties around the scale …
Government response. The government agrees and details its ongoing work to draw on international experience for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) design, including country visits and research. It commits to writing to the Committee in Summer 2024 with an update on lessons …
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
While the Department recognises the importance of waste prevention and reuse, it is not clear what its plans are for meeting its target of doubling resource efficiency by 2050. The government considers that most of the damage to the environment from waste could be avoided at the design and production …
Government response. The government agrees, noting an amendment to the recommendation's wording. It acknowledges the challenges of long-term planning for resource efficiency but commits to writing to the Committee in early 2025 to explain its approach and progress.
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department has not yet set out the waste infrastructure capacity it expects will be needed in England to meet its ambitions, which makes it more difficult for the private sector to make informed investment decisions. It is clear that stakeholders responsible for investing in the necessary new recycling infrastructure …
Government response. The government agrees and commits to providing an update to the Committee by September 2024, implying it will address the waste infrastructure plan's publication and consultation as requested.
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The government does not yet have good enough data to manage the waste system effectively, which it needs to understand how waste is recycled and to ensure waste exports are legal. To track progress and refine its plans the Department needs good information on outcomes such as waste production, landfilling …
Government response. The government agrees and is developing a Data Strategy to address key gaps. It commits to publishing new statistics on residual waste by May 2024, municipal recycling by July 2024, and drivers of consumption-based carbon emissions by June 2024, in …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (the Department) about government’s programme of waste reforms.1
Government response. The government agrees with an implied recommendation and details a range of implemented and ongoing actions, such as establishing an initiation service, improving resource planning, developing stakeholder engagement strategies, and reviewing governance, based on IPA reviews since March 2020.
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department told us that factors outside of its control have contributed to the delays, for example, COVID-19 limiting its engagement with stakeholders and local authorities and political change impacting its ability to obtain cross-Government agreement.10 However, the Department also accepts the programme was impacted by poor initial set up …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation and states the recommendation is already implemented, detailing several actions taken to improve programme management, stakeholder engagement, and governance across its Major Projects Portfolio, including establishing an initiation service and reviewing board structures.
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Acknowledged
The Department told us that its recent work on the reforms has amounted to a wider reset of the programme’s approach, and the programme is now fully resourced.15 It believes it has now addressed the weaknesses in its approach to the programme, and that the IPA’s review due this autumn …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation, stating the November 2023 IPA review assessed the programme as 'amber' with concerns about DRS and pEPR. It commits to addressing outstanding issues via a detailed action plan and will update the committee …
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department recognised the need to improve project capability across the whole organisation, and it has established a new director general role for project delivery. It told us it is looking at its capability, capacity and resource models across its portfolio of major projects and programmes. It told us that …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, detailing various actions taken to improve project and programme management, stakeholder engagement, and governance across the department based on IPA reviews.
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The collection and packaging reforms programme is reliant on businesses and consumers changing their behaviour by producing less, and recycling more.18 The National Audit Office found the Department has much more to do to improve businesses’ confidence in the programme, and that a lack of clarity has made it hard …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation and provides specific timelines for pEPR fee enforcement by May 2024, producer invoicing by July 2025, and informing local authorities of estimated payment amounts by November 2024. It also highlights recent publications and …
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
It has been over two years since the Department closed its consultation on consistent collections (now known as simpler recycling), and it has not yet finalised or published its requirements. Simpler recycling is crucial for England meeting its municipal target recycling rate of 65% by 2035.21 The Department expects simpler …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, highlighting the publication of the Simpler Recycling consultation response on 21 October 2023 which included materials and implementation dates. It also outlines a multi-layered approach and ongoing policy work, including the MRMW programme, …
HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department suggests the delay in implementation of extended producer responsibility scheme is in part to allow councils more time to prepare and adjust services. However, we remain concerned that councils cannot use the additional time to prepare until they receive a timeline for implementation and confirmation of funding.25 For …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee, stating local authorities will be informed of their estimated EPR payment amounts for 2025-26 in November 2024. It also provides timelines for producer fee enforcement and invoicing, and highlights the recent publication of the …
HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
One of the Department’s objectives for implementing the extended producer responsibility scheme is to incentivise producers and retailers to use fewer, and more easily recyclable, materials in their packaging.27 We received written evidence from Marks and Spencer, a business required to pay fees under the extended responsibility scheme, which stressed …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee, stating it will publish 'illustrative base fees' based on 2023 data to provide clarity on pEPR fees for producers. It also provides timelines for fee enforcement by May 2024 and producer invoice issuance by …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Not Addressed
The deposit return scheme for single-use plastic and metal drinks containers will be funded by the companies producing the containers. The Department estimated the deposit return scheme to have at an average annual cost of £621 million (2020 present values, 2019 prices), reduced to £330 million (2020 present values, 2019 …
Government response. The response simply restates that a deposit return scheme will be established.
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted in Part
The National Audit Office recommended that the Department considers piloting the scheme due to uncertainties around the scale of the benefits to ensure it is value for money. The impact assessment for the deposit return scheme showed that more than 90% of the benefits of the scheme are based on …
Government response. The government agrees with the need to learn lessons but addresses the committee's point by detailing extensive learning from international deposit return schemes, without committing to piloting the UK scheme itself, promising an update in Summer 2024.
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
We asked if the Department plans to conduct a pilot of the deposit return scheme. It does not plan to conduct a pilot due to the practical challenges of setting it up. The Department told us it believes it has sufficient information from small trials and looking at the experiences …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation and outlines extensive efforts already undertaken to learn from international DRS schemes, including visits and research, to inform its policy making. It commits to providing specific examples of lessons learned to the Committee …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Deferred
The government considers that most of the damage to the environment from waste could be avoided at the design and production stages by considering the materials used in production and the ease with which products can be reused or repaired. It has an ambition to double resource efficiency (the use …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation (after amending it), acknowledging that identifying clear policy pathways and agreeing on metrics for resource efficiency remain challenging. It commits to further research and will write to the committee in early 2025 to …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Deferred
Stakeholders, including Green Alliance which provided us with written evidence, are concerned that government has not given waste prevention and re-use sufficient priority.36 The Department told us that it aims to push waste up the ‘waste hierarchy’ over time. The waste hierarchy ranks waste management options according to what is …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observation (after amending it to focus on resource productivity), but states that developing clear policy pathways and agreeing on metrics for resource efficiency remain challenging. It commits to further research and will write to …
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Deferred
The Department published a waste prevention programme for England in July 2023.38 It selected seven sectors to improve reuse and recycling, including textiles, waste electric equipment and batteries. The Department told us it plans to put out a consultation shortly on waste electricals and batteries to consult on improvements to …
Government response. The government agrees with the amended recommendation to double resource productivity but states that long-term policy pathways and metrics for resource efficiency are challenging and not yet agreed. It commits to further research and will write to the committee in …
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The North London Waste Authority, Mura Technology Limited and Suez, which invests in or builds the necessary new recycling infrastructure, provided us with written evidence explaining that they need more certainty, clarity and granularity about the Department’s long-term policies on resource and waste management if they are to meet deadlines, …
Government response. The government agrees with the implied need for more policy clarity regarding waste management infrastructure and plans to publish the first part of the 'Waste Infrastructure Roadmap' by April 2024 to signal investment needs.
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department claims it has a comprehensive vision and plan, but accepts more detail is needed for businesses and waste management authorities.44 The Department acknowledged that businesses and local government need more information on how extended producer responsibility and simpler recycling will work, as well as on its infrastructure pathway, …
Government response. The government agrees and aims to provide more detail by November 2024, outlining timelines for extended producer responsibility fees (July 2025) and stating it is finalising and will publish the Waste Infrastructure Roadmap to guide waste management infrastructure investment.
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
To track progress and refine its plans the Department needs good information on outcomes such as waste production, landfilling and recycling. There are serious gaps and limitations in the Department’s data, for example commercial and industrial waste represents around one-fifth of total waste generated but the Department does not publish …
Government response. The government agrees and will implement a mandatory waste tracking service by April 2025 to capture comprehensive waste information. It is also developing a Data Strategy and will publish new statistics on residual waste, municipal recycling, and carbon emissions by …
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department believes its waste tracking project will provide significantly more data to understand how waste is recycled and to ensure waste exports are legal and meets its waste export requirements. At present, data on waste transfers are recorded by waste operators in disparate systems and in diverse and unconnected …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation, outlining plans to make the waste tracking service publicly available in 2024 and mandatory through legislation by April 2025. It also commits to addressing data gaps by publishing new statistics by July 2024.
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
In October 2022, our report on government actions to combat waste crime found the Department was making slow progress on its digital waste tracking system, and was not even at the pilot stage after four years of effort, despite its implementation being core 42 C&AG’s Report, Figure 8 43 Committee …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation, committing to make the waste tracking service publicly available in 2024 and mandatory via legislation by April 2025, which will provide foundations for capturing comprehensive waste data. It also plans to publish new statistics …
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Government’s programme o…
Accepted
The Department told us that it produces information monitoring progress on the resources and waste strategy annually53 It told us that it has an evaluation programme in place to develop new measures and the supporting data as well as research to fill in gaps in its data.54 51 Committee of …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation and outlines its plan to enhance waste data collection and monitoring by making the waste tracking service mandatory by April 2025. It will also develop a Data Strategy and publish new statistics by July …
HM Treasury