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 effectiveness of levels of penalties for waste crime.

Legislation relating to waste crime such as fly-tipping and illegal waste sites allows for an unlimited fine and up to five years imprisonment. We are making the regulations for the transport and management of waste tougher so that those who break the new rules will face up to five years imprisonment. For lower-level offences it is important to ensure that penalties are high enough to act as a deterrent but not too high so that offenders cannot, or choose not to, pay the penalty. The Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://nftpg.com/.

Sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose for unlawfully depositing waste, the court will take into account the circumstances of the offence and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with sentencing guidelines for environmental offences, issued by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales.