Recommendation 14

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 in development of two earlier prototypes.44 In a follow- up letter after the evidence session, Defra said it is currently assessing responses to an exercise to procure an IT partner to work with the in-house team to build the service.45 32 Sir James Bevan speech, Crackdown on waste crime: Time to stop trashing our future, 12 April 2022; Environment Agency blog, Flying high! Using drones to collect evidence of illegal waste sites – Creating a better place (blog.gov.uk) , October 2021 33 Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Smarter regulation of waste: progress to date, February 2020; Natural Resources Wales, Socially distant but always on duty – using technology to catch waste criminals, May 2020 34 Q 8; Defra, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Consultation on the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking, January 2022 35 C&AG’s Report, Figure 21 36 Defra, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Consultation on the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking, January 2022 37 Q 6; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.3 and 3.4 38 Qq 43, 83 39 Q 8 40 GWC0004 (NFU England and Wales); GWC0003 (ESA); GWC0006 (ADEPT); GWC0007 (Suez) 41 GWC0007 (Suez) 42 Q 8 43 Qq 7, 12–13; Letter from Defra’s Permanent Secretary to PAC Chair, sent 29 June 2022 44 Smart tracking of waste across the UK: GovTech Catalyst competition winners announced, February 2019; £1 million boost for UK smart waste tracking, October 2019 45 Letter from Defra’s Permanent Secretary to PAC Chair, sent 29 June 2022 Government actions to combat waste crime 13 Budg