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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to reduce litter on UK beaches.

The UK Marine Strategy Part Three, published in December last year, sets out the actions we are taking to improve the marine environment. It covers measures that contribute to reducing sources of marine litter, including sources of beach litter, and to remove what has already reached our beaches. Actions related specifically to UK beaches include Defra-funded beach cleaning schemes on priority beaches.

In addition, Defra and the Department for Communities and Local Government are working in partnership to develop a National Litter Strategy. This will promote concerted, coordinated and effective actions to reduce litter and littering on land, which in turn should lead to a reduction in the amount of litter reaching the marine environment, including our beaches.