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 adequacy of the resources allocated to the Environment Agency to enforce (a) the Waste Hierarchy and (b) Part 5 and Regulation 25 of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.

We regularly discuss with the Environment Agency (EA) the level of resources they need to carry out their functions. The majority of the EA's funding is provided by the Department. Most of the EA's grant-in-aid funding has already been approved for the current spending review period, 2016-17 to 2019-20. Funding for any current or future enforcement obligations will be assessed as part of the next spending review.

Brokers and dealers of controlled waste pay a licence fee to the EA which is used to fund compliance of Regulation 25. Since 2014 we have allocated the EA an additional £60m for waste crime enforcement work up to 2022 - including £30m in last year’s November budget.