Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
Defra is not doing enough to support local authorities to tackle fly-tipping.
Recommendation
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 unreported. Defra is adamant that it is the responsibility of local authorities to tackle fly-tipping, supported by guidance and powers to impose sanctions that Defra develops and provides. Yet local authorities’ clear duty is to clear fly-tipped waste from land it controls, while investigating fly-tipping or tackling the perpetrators are choices Government actions to combat waste crime 7 constrained by local authorities’ limited resources; different local authorities show highly variable practice. Defra is still working on a fly-tipping toolkit announced in 2018 and has recently provided 11 authorities with between £25,000 and £50,000 each to trial approaches to preventing or addressing fly-tipping. Defra allocated this funding on the basis of bids from invited authorities, which may have rewarded those authorities with the most capacity to bid rather than the best ideas. Defra was not able to explain the gap between the scale of fly-tipping and action on the ground, or explain how its overall goal of eliminating waste crime was compatible with this level of variation. Recommendation: 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.
Government Response Summary
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 best practice on tackling fly-tipping.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation relevant in dealing with fly-tipping problems, which require a local approach tailored to the community in which the problems occur. The role of central government is to enable and support this local action. Indeed, the government has previously strengthened local authority enforcement powers such as by providing councils with powers to issue fixed penalty notices. Going forward, the department has already committed to working with the National Fly- tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), which includes representatives from several local authorities, to develop a fly-tipping toolkit. The toolkit will help share best practice on a range of issues related to tackling fly-tipping. The first part of the toolkit, on presenting robust prosecutions, was published earlier this year. Work on the next part of the toolkit, how to set up effective anti-fly-tipping partnerships, has already commenced. The government expect this will be published in early 2023. This toolkit will build on the range of resource already available on the NFTPG website that are designed to support local authorities and others in tackling fly-tipping. This includes a communications toolkit to help local authorities raise awareness among residents of their household waste duty of care, guidance on roles and responsibilities and numerous case studies detailing a range of interventions. Further case studies will be added in 2023 following the completion of local authority projects funded by the department’s fly-tipping intervention grant scheme, which saw grants totalling over £450,000 awarded across 11 local authorities.