Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Identify priority waste data gaps and set ambitious timescales for filling them.
Recommendation
The government does not yet have good enough data to manage the waste system effectively, which it needs to understand how waste is recycled and to ensure waste exports are legal. To track progress and refine its plans the Department needs good information on outcomes such as waste production, landfilling and recycling. There are serious gaps and limitations in the Department’s data, for example commercial and industrial waste represents around one-fifth of total waste generated but the Department does not publish data on how much of it is recycled as it does not yet have a robust methodology for determining this. It is confident the waste-tracking project, expected to be completed by April 2025 at a cost of £9.5 million, will provide significantly more data to understand how waste is recycled and to ensure waste exports are legal and meets its waste export requirements. The Department says that it has an evaluation programme in place to develop new measures and the data behind them, and is carrying out research to fill gaps in its data. 8 Government’s programme of waste reforms Recommendation 6: The Department should set out it in its Treasury Minute what it sees as the priority data gaps and set ambitious timescales for filling the data gaps. Government’s programme of waste reforms 9 1 Collection and packaging reforms
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and is developing a Data Strategy to address key gaps. It commits to publishing new statistics on residual waste by May 2024, municipal recycling by July 2024, and drivers of consumption-based carbon emissions by June 2024, in addition to ongoing waste-tracking developments.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. basis – this is expected to happen in phases with specific groups of users being invited to use the service over time. Green list waste exports are the first phase to have successfully transitioned to private beta at the end of 2023. From April 2025, legislation will come into force across the UK, subject to approval across all four legislatures. The requirements of the regulations will be mandatory from this point and service charges will also be payable. This will provide the foundations for capturing information on waste generated and treated, including waste recycling. The Government response of the consultation outcome is published on Gov.UK. The department is currently developing a Data Strategy, identifying and filling gaps around the required regular ongoing data to run policy and monitor progress within the Resources & Waste Strategy and Environmental Improvement Programme. This includes progress against targets in residual waste and municipal recycling rates and, if necessary, introducing legislation for new data reporting requirements. The department’s key performance metrics are publicly reported and updated at least annually where possible. These form the core part of the 'Monitoring Progress' reports and track strategic priorities in the Resources & Waste Strategy. The department is increasing the number of regular published statistics and from this year it will be up to at least 11 publications which is an ambitious target. Later in 2024, the department intends to address key data gaps by publishing new statistics on: • Residual waste by material type, to assess progress against the residual waste target, planned for May 2024. • Municipal recycling, using a new definition of Municipal Waste, probably July 2024. • Drivers of consumption-based carbon emissions, probably June 2024. The department is also collecting new survey data as part of the Resources & Waste Strategy Evaluation Programme, which will give us valuable new insights as policies are implemented.