Recommendation 21

We queried why the number of successful prosecutions has dropped dramatically over the past 15 years and why investigations were taking longer and longer.72 The Agency told us that prosecutions, despite their potential effectiveness at deterring waste crime, are a last resort because they tend to be slow, complex and expensive, and the Agency needs to use and target its resources in the best way to address and prevent the huge array of waste crime. The Agency’s strategy is to go after the worst criminals who do the most damage, and this requires higher evidential standards and, inevitably, longer investigations.73 HMRC is even more reticent to prosecute, predominantly using civil sanctions and seeking to promote good compliance.74 We heard from HMRC that it has learnt the lessons from its only, and failed, attempt to prosecute for landfill tax evasion to date, Operation Nosedive. It now works much better with the Agency on complex investigations through the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and has improved the quality of the evidence it gathers.75 The Agency also confirmed it has learnt lessons from Operation Nosedive, and assured us that its staff are committed to combatting waste crime despite the huge challenges of the job, including threats and actual assaults.76