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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what total funding has been allocated to each local authority in England through the Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme; whether that funding is required to be ringfenced for waste collection and recycling services; what mechanisms are in place to monitor expenditure; and what assessment she has made of whether the funding has been used for the purposes for which it was intended.

The Government has published allocations for each English local authority. Local authorities in England are expected to receive around £1.1 billion through Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR). pEPR payments are intended to fund efficient and effective household packaging waste management and recycling. The Secretary of State has instructed PackUK to use its regulatory powers to ensure funding is spent for those purposes. PackUK can require information on expenditure, recover funding if it is not used as intended, and can reduce future payments in cases where authorities fail to provide an effective service.