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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to assist local authorities to deter fly-tipping.

The Government is committed to tackling fly-tipping on a number of fronts. In 2016 we gave local authorities the power to issue fixed penalty notices for small scale fly-tipping. We have enhanced the Environment Agency and local authorities’ powers to search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers. It is for local authorities to use the full range of powers available to them.

We worked with the Sentencing Council when they strengthened the Sentencing Guidelines for environmental offences in 2014. The maximum penalty on indictment for fly-tipping is imprisonment of up to five years or a potentially unlimited fine. Minister Coffey will shortly be writing to Ministry of Justice Ministers on the matter of sentencing, and we will work with those involved in the court system to ensure sentencing levels act as an appropriate deterrent.

As part of our Resource and Waste Strategy we will develop further proposals to tackle fly-tipping. We will facilitate partnership working and intelligence sharing between organisations at a local level, including local authorities, and encourage local authorities and the Environment Agency to investigate incidents on private land.