Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 26
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)
Local authorities reported 1.1 million incidents of fly-tipping during 2020–21 to Defra.91 However, Defra recognises that some local authorities provide incomplete figures, and that coverage of fly-tipping on private sector land is not good enough.92 Other stakeholders made similar points more strongly: written evidence from academics stated that “Waste crime on private land is overlooked” while evidence from the National Farmers Union (NFU) said that better reporting and recording of waste crime on private land “is urgently needed” due to a substantial number of unrecorded incidents.93 Recorded fly-tipping is high in urban areas: Hackney recorded 13,600 incidents in 2020–21, while Sandwell recorded 10,300.94 But it is also a serious issue in rural areas: the NFU estimates that fly-tipping is a widespread problem that will affect two-thirds of farmers. In addition, the NFU reports 82 Q 89 83 Q 6 84 Q 81 85 Environment Agency, Waste Crime Summary Data to 2020/21 86 C&AG’s Report, Figure 7; Environment Agency, Waste Crime Summary Data to 2020/21 87 Q 81 88 GWC0003 (ESA) 89 Q 46 90 Biffa fined £1.5 million for ‘reckless’ export breach - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 91 C&AG’s Report, para 1.14 92 Qq 2, 41; C&AG’s Report, para 1.14 93 GWC0001 (Farrell, Dixon and Tilley); GWC0004 (NFU England and Wales) 94 Qq 30, 33, 43; Defra, ENV24 – Fly tipping incidents and actions taken in England, statistical dataset, December 2021 18 Government actions to combat waste crime hearing from its members about an increase in large scale fly-tipping involving multiple vehicles in a short space of time.95 It is the responsibility of the landowner to remove waste fly-tipped on private land.96 The NFU told us that costs can run from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds to deal with and remove fly-tipped waste, while protective measures both cost money to install and increase farmers’ workload.97
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.