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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce a minimum mandatory prison sentence for people who fly-tip items containing asbestos.

Fly-tipping is a serious crime which can harm both the environment and human health. We are committed to tackling it and other forms of waste crime.

The law already allows for prison sentences of up to five years for the most serious cases. Sentencing is however a matter for the independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, the court will take into account the circumstances of the offence in line with the Environmental Offences Definitive Guideline issued by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales.

In partnership with the National Fly Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), we have recently produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court to support sentences that properly reflect the severity of fly tipping. This has been published on the NFTPG website:

https://www.tacklingflytipping.com/Documents/NFTPG-Files/FlyTipping-Toolkit-Cases.pdf.