Written questions by Midgley.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites are located within one kilometre of residential communities.

This data is not held centrally.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites are located on green belt land.

This data is not held centrally.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste site operators have received custodial sentences in each of the last five years.

YearCount of immediate custodial sentencesCount of suspended sentences202159202268202348202416162025018

Food and Rural Affairs, how many enforcement notices for illegal waste operations are outstanding.

In the last 5 years (1 January 2021 – 31 December 2025) there have been 73 notices served under Section 59 and Section 34 of Environmental Protection Act 1990. A Section 59 notice requires the removal of unlawfully deposited waste, and a Section 34 notice requires a waste holder to produce records. Of those served, 8 are awaiting a compliance outcome and 61 have not been complied with.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions has the Environment Agency brought for operating illegal waste sites in each of the last five years.

Successful prosecutions associated with illegal waste sites investigations (where the court hearing date is in the requested timeframe and the verdict is guilty): 2021 – 422022 – 482023 – 472024 – 822025 – 68 This data is subject to change as cases reach conclusion and does not include records where a permit breach has been identified.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many enforcement actions the Environment Agency has taken against illegal waste sites in each of the last five years.

Total number of actions dated within each calendar year for records relating to illegal waste sites. Prosecution outcomes have been removed as these are provided separately in PQ 121091. 2021: 7502022: 5492023: 5742024: 3352025: 343 NB: This data is taken from a live system and maybe subject to change as investigation details are updated.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites were identified in the UK in each of the last five years.

Total number of illegal waste sites identified per calendar year: 2021: 5832022: 5042023: 5652024: 8922025: 823 NB: This data is taken from a live system and maybe subject to change as investigation details are updated.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of illegal waste dumps currently operating in the UK.

Total number of illegal waste sites operating as of 17 March 2026: 537. NB: This data is taken from a live system and maybe subject to change as investigation details are updated.

Food and Rural Affairs, which local authority areas have the highest number of illegal waste sites currently under investigation by the Environment Agency.

This data is not available centrally to this level of detail.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the total volume of illegally stored or dumped waste currently present at illegal waste sites in the UK.

Total tonnage of waste on illegal waste sites that were operational on or after 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025C (inclusive) and have not been brought into regulation or cleared of waste: 5,544,462. NB: This data is taken from a live system and maybe subject to change as investigation details are updated.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites have been identified in each region of England.

Total number of Illegal waste sites found per calendar year split by Environment Agency area: NB: This data is taken from a live system and maybe subject to change as investigation details are updated. Environment Agency Area20212022202320242025TotalCumbria and Lancashire4034574847226Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire392265722146Yorkshire4541597933257East Midlands505136147202486North East2320135843157Hertfordshire and North London24295340128Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire5544854925258Solent and South Downs4018295734178West Midlands67517110574368Kent, South London and East Sussex4145644895293Thames211613221688Wessex3920165663194Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly5562536373306East Anglia4478545056282Total583504565892823 3,367

Food and Rural Affairs, what the average financial penalty issued for waste crime was in the last five years.

Average fine for where the incident type was waste (regardless of whether related to an illegal waste site) and where the hearing date falls in the 2020 - 2025 range. This data also includes community orders: 2021 - £113,647.962022 - £3,268.002023 - £11,226.032024 - £8,993.222025 - £38, 535.30 This data is subject to change as cases reach conclusion.N.B several large fines (e.g £1m, £200k) in 2021 are responsible for the significantly higher average compared to other years.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made with the the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of the potential merits of allowing unredeemed deposits within the Deposit Return Scheme to be retained by the Deposit Management Organisation to fund (a) infrastructure and (b) consumer engagement.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the deposit return schemes operate effectively and that VAT is not a barrier on industry or UK DMO. VAT is a decision for HMRC Ministers. Defra continue to work with HMRC and will set out more detail regarding VAT treatment within DRS in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) paying Extended Producer Responsibility fees on packaging supplied indirectly to business end users and (b) producers being charged for commercial waste disposal of that packaging on those producers.

In autumn last year my department published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme on packaging producers as a whole, when the regulations were laid in parliament. We are aware of industry concerns around producers being charged pEPR disposal fees for the management of packaging that is disposed of in commercial streams. At a roundtable with industry chaired by Minister Creagh on 10 June it was agreed to establish an industry led group to develop approaches to remove dual use packaging that is unlikely to end up in household waste stream from obligation. This work is now well advanced, and my department is carefully reviewing proposed approaches and will seek to balance sectoral ambitions against the operational integrity of the scheme.  We will continue to engage with industry during this process as we seek to establish a final approach.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) mitigate pollution from historic landfills and (b) facilitate the remediation of landfill sites in Knowsley constituency.

Responsibility typically lies with the landowner to maintain systems that prevent pollution. Under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities are primarily responsible for managing contaminated land, including designating historic landfills. If a historic landfill site is designated as a ‘special site,’ the Environment Agency (EA) can require remediation and continues to support local authorities in fulfilling their duties. The EA regulates two permitted landfill facilities in Knowsley, in line with issued permits: Marl Road (an inert waste closed landfill), which stopped recieving waste in the 1990’s. There is no requirement within the permit to remediate. Following a site visit in 2024, the EA observed that the site is covered with vegetation.Cronton Quarry (an inert waste operational landfill), which will be depositing waste for a further 3-4 months as a disposal operation. The site will then move into the restoration phase. These restoration works involve depositing of waste as part of an ongoing programme of remediation.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating sustainable drainage systems in all new developments.

The Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place. We believe that these outcomes can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available or commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. A final decision on the way forward will be made in the coming months. We have made some immediate changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to support increasing SuDS. The NPPF now requires all development to utilize SuDS where they could have drainage impacts. These systems should be appropriate to the nature and scale of the proposed development. See paragraphs 181 and 182 of the National Planning Policy Framework. We will review the planning system holistically and consider whether further changes are required to address SuDS when we consult on further planning reform, including national policy related to decision making, in 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure affordable water supply for households.

As the independent economic regulator, Ofwat independently scrutinises water company business plans and ensure the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate. All water companies have measures in place for people who struggle to pay for their water and wastewater services, including measures such as WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks and holidays, and debt management support. We expect all companies to make sure households are aware of the measures available to them and do everything they can to support their customers. Furthermore, we expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their public commitment to end water poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to this end. The Government is working with industry to keep the current support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers across the country are supported.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to strengthen the powers of water regulators.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues. The AI (artificial intelligence) Opportunities Action Plan sets out how we will achieve our AI ambitions by laying the foundations for growth, driving adoption and building UK capabilities.  We recognise that data centres face sustainability challenges, from energy demands to water use. Through the AI Energy Council, we will be exploring bold, clean energy solutions from next-generation renewables to small modular reactors to ensure our AI ambitions align with the UK’s net zero goals. This builds on the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology’s contribution to make Britain a clean energy superpower by investing in relevant research on clean energy and climate change.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring water companies to implement pollution incident reduction plans.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will introduce a statutory duty for all water companies in England and Wales to publish annual Pollution Incident Reduction Plans. Water companies will be required to use these plans to set out the actions they intend to take to reduce the severity and frequency of pollution incidents. The Government fully agrees that water companies must implement the actions it sets out in its plans. That is why we are we are requiring water companies to produce an annual implementation report alongside their plan, setting out where they have and have not implemented the measures they planned to implement in the preceding year, and what they plan to do to rectify any similar failures in future. The Government is clear that failure to act is unacceptable. That is why if a company fails to publish a compliant plan and implementation report by the deadline each year, this will be considered an offence, enforced by the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. Chief Executives will be required to approve both the plan and the report and will be personally liable for their publication. During the passage of the Water (Special Measures) Bill, it was debated whether to include a statutory duty to implement pollution incident reduction plans. The Government does not believe this is appropriate. Doing so could result in companies creating enforceable duties on themselves. This would create confusion for our regulators and could also result in an inadvertent reduction of companies’ ambition.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve water infrastructure.

The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 transposed the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) into law in England and Wales and were retained in UK law after EU exit. In the Government’s response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive Regulations, this Government agreed that not enough progress has been made in meeting the Framework’s objective for water quality, to restore water bodies to good ecological status or good ecological potential. This is due to a failure by the previous Government to drive sufficient investment and action over the last 15 years since the first River Basin Management Plans were published. The Secretary of State has made cleaning up the water environment a priority for Defra and made clear that increased action and investment, and more effective management of the water system as a whole is required.