Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of steps taken by local authorities to counter fly-tipping.

The Government is committed to tackling fly-tipping on a number of fronts. Local authorities and the Environment Agency have a full range of enforcement powers to tackle fly-tipping which have recently been strengthened. We have given local authorities the power to issue fixed penalty notices for small scale fly-tipping and enhanced their ability to search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers. It is the responsibility of local authorities to use the powers available to them. The National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has published guidance which sets out clearly the powers available to local authorities and other partners when tackling fly-tipping.