Written questions by Huddleston.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites the Environment Agency has closed in the last three years.

In the period April 2021-March 2024, the Environment Agency stopped 1691 illegal waste sites.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle illegal waste activities in (a) Worcestershire and (b) England.

Waste reforms will make it harder for organised criminals to exploit the waste system and that is why the Government is committed to introducing tighter controls on waste exemptions, introducing digital waste tracking from October 2026 beginning with waste receiving sites, and introducing new permit requirements for carriers, brokers and dealers. Connecting fragmented systems and digitising record-keeping will ultimately make it harder for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime, from fly tipping to illegal waste sites to illegal waste shipments. In Worcestershire, recent multi-agency work has resulted in the seizure of vehicles suspected of involvement in waste crime, thereby removing them off the road and preventing further illegal activity. Environment Agency investigators continue to gather evidence of suspected offenders with a view to pursuing enforcement action.

Food and Rural Affairs, what the Environment Agency’s budget is for tackling illegal waste activity in the financial year 2025-26.

This financial year, the Government committed £12 million to the Environment Agency (EA) to fight waste crime. This is an additional £2 million to the £10 million it received in previous years. The funding will continue to afford resource of approximately 240 full-time equivalent across the EA to target waste crime; it is spent on specialised staff, such as enforcement officers, intelligence officers, financial investigators, and disclosure officers. The EA also received £3 million for 2025/26 to enforce new duties introduced this year including the new Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility requirements. This helps to fund resources towards operational staff to tackle serious and significant offending.