Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
Eighteenth Report - Government actions to combat waste crime
Published 19 Oct 2022
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Government actions to combat waste crime All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
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 environment. Only around a quarter of waste crime is reported and the Agency cannot estimate the quantity of waste that is illegally exported. Local authorities do not report fly- tipping to Defra on a consistent basis. To improve waste crime data, Defra and the Agency are placing their trust in a mix of initiatives, including encouraging public reporting, introducing digital tracking of waste and technological initiatives such as use of drones. But for the public to go to the effort of making reports, they will need to know that action will be taken in response and they will hear what it is. In the UK outside England environmental regulators are exploring the use of satellite technology to identify serious waste crime. Recommendation: Defra and the Agency need to explore the full range of potential solutions to data weaknesses, including for example satellite technology, and ensure successful delivery of existing initiatives to improve data; where these initiatives rely on public reporting there should be appropriate capacity to follow up reported incidents.
From: Public Accounts Committee, Eighteenth Report - Government actions to combat waste crime (HC 33), 19 October 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 December 2022 (deadline 19 December 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations on waste crime, listing most as "implemented" and giving target dates for others.
- On the Resources and Waste Strategy, the government agrees with the recommendation, while noting that "some delivery has been slower than originally planned"; it lists planned reforms including digital waste tracking and reform of the waste carriers, brokers and dealers' regime, both "planned for 2024".
- On landfill tax, the government agrees and says the Landfill Tax Review would consider the structure of the tax and "the impacts of any proposed changes to this on waste crime"; HMRC is to report on its approach to investigations, with a target date of December 2022.
- On sanctions, the government agrees and notes that the Sentencing Council is responsible for sentencing guidance and the courts make "independent decisions"; the department "intends to conduct new research" into enforcement of small scale fly-tipping, "anticipated to commence in early 2023".
- On the digital waste tracking contract, the government agrees; it is "anticipated that the contract will be let by the end of 2022" and the department "will write to inform the Committee" when this happens.