Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
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)
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 improved understanding of waste movements and enable them to better identify misclassification and improper disposal of waste. Defra is creating a prototype in- house, with 1,600 users currently testing it. It is seeking an IT partner for the next stage of development and expects to roll out the system in 2024, following the passage of secondary legislation and piloting. We acknowledge that this project has ambitious aims: the current plans are to record 10 items of information at each movement, treatment or transfer of waste, and 200 million tonnes of waste are produced each year. Defra is confident it can successfully deliver this project based on its record of delivering the IT systems it put in place for leaving the EU. But progress to date is 8 Government actions to combat waste crime not commensurate with the need for digital tracking to underpin other actions in the Waste and Resources Strategy, and our recent experience of large-scale digital programmes across government does not give us the same confidence. Recommendation: Defra should write to the committee when the IT contract is let to confirm that it has happened and what the plan is for full implementation. Government actions to combat waste crime 9 1 Progress with the government’s strategy
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.