Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of penalties for fly-tipping in deterring repeat offences.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of penalties for fly-tipping in deterring repeat offences.
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles involved in fly-tipping and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment.
Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in tackling fly-tipping in the West Midlands.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment.
Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop new guidance to support them to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
In the meantime, Defra continue to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support the Falkland Islands government to preserve its (a) marine biodiversity, (b) sustainable fishing practices and (c) other aspects of its ecological environment.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials work closely with the Falkland Islands Government to ensure that Falkland Island interests are represented in international fisheries meetings at the UN and FAO, and that challenges in ensuring sustainable management of high seas fisheries in the South West Atlantic are addressed.
Defra primarily supports the UK Overseas Territories, including the Falkland Islands, to protect their unique biodiversity and natural environments through the Darwin Plus programme. In the past 5 years, Darwin Plus has awarded funding to 28 projects of benefit to the Falkland Islands worth over £4 million, including 8 worth over £2 million dedicated to marine conservation.
Projects have been working to:
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a fourth round of grants under the fly-tipping grant scheme.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of a fourth round of grants. The Government is making available £69 billion to council budgets across England – a 6.8% cash terms increase, to help fund key responsibilities like tackling fly-tipping.
We will continue to work with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group to highlight and share best practice with regards to tackling fly-tipping. Various practical tools, including case studies from previous grants, are available from their website https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers enrolled in the SFI scheme to transition to the forthcoming replacement programme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will provide further details about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in summer 2025.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 47228 on Sustainable Farming Incentive, whether the (a) launch and (b) rollout of the replacement Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be in 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will provide further details about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in summer 2025.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of publishing a local authority league table for incidences of fly-tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a local authority league table for incidences of fly-tipping.
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and actions to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. In assessing the figures local authorities should not be classified as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ performers based purely on numbers of fly-tips and comparisons between local authorities should be made with care.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help tackle commercial fly-tipping involving construction and demolition waste.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recently announced plans to move the regulation of waste carriers, brokers and dealers from a light-touch registration system into environmental permitting. This will mean that people who transport or control more than a certain volume of construction or demolition waste, which is produced by themselves in the course of their business, will be required to apply for the relevant standard rules permit. The reform will enhance the resources and capabilities available to the Environment Agency to take regulatory action and make it harder for rogue operators to escape detection.
Local authorities also have enforcement powers to help tackle fly-tipping. We are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance for local authorities and have also announced a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool.
We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up their mess and will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with local authorities, the Environment Agency and others to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on entering the premises of (a) animal shelters and (b) rescue homes to assess (ii) animal welfare and (ii) conditions.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, local authorities and the police have powers to investigate allegations of animal cruelty or poor welfare, including powers of entry to premises such as animal shelters and rescue homes. Section 18 of the Act allows animals to be seized where necessary to prevent suffering.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) national debate and (b) action plan on fly-tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of a national debate or action plan on fly-tipping.
We are committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing vehicles and prosecution, and we are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support local authorities to consistently and effectively exercise these powers.
We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.