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 allow local authorities to treat connected entities as a single undertaking in cases where arrangements have been created primarily to avoid Extended Producer Responsibility obligations.

Local authorities do not play a role in the compliance and enforcement of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR). PEPR is regulated by the Environment Agency in England and by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.

The pEPR regulations contain a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging handled, to avoid placing disproportionate burden on small businesses.

A broad range of enforcement options are available, including civil sanctions, to support a fair and effective system. We are working closely with the regulators to monitor compliance with pEPR and will keep this under regular review.