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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) support and (b) guidance to local councils on using fixed penalty notices for litter enforcement.

The Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan made clear that we want to see councils use fixed penalties for environmental crimes, including littering, much more. It also set out steps we would take to help and encourage councils to do this. This includes ringfencing the income from litter and fly-tipping penalties for enforcement and clean-up activity, which we are currently consulting key stakeholders on.

We have also published improved guidance to councils and others on the effective use of their fixed penalty powers for littering and related offences. The guidance outlines that enforcement action should be proportionate and should only be taken when it is in the public interest to do so. We have committed to putting this guidance on a statutory footing, giving those to which it applies a clear and explicit duty to have regard to it when exercising their enforcement functions.

We are currently undertaking a research project which considers the effectiveness of the different enforcement options available to local authorities and the barriers they face in using these. This will inform future policy development in this area.