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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to tackle rural crime.

This Government is committed to tackling rural crime and safeguarding rural communities. That is why Defra has worked closely with the Home Office and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to deliver the 2025-28 Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy which was published in November 2025.

The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities. The strategy, lasting until 2028, will ensure efforts to reduce crime benefit every community no matter where they live, including rural communities.

To tackle waste crimes specifically, including those taking place in rural areas, Defra published the Waste Crime Action Plan in March. It sets out the decisive measures that we are taking in England to prevent harm, disrupt and prosecute offenders and clean up the damage that they leave behind.