Written questions by Morton.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase coordination between (a) the Environment Agency, (b) local authorities and (c) police forces to tackle organised waste crime.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime, hosted by the Environment Agency, is a multi-agency taskforce established specifically to share intelligence and operational capability and capacity to tackle serious and organised criminality in the waste sector. When appropriate, this includes liaison and intelligence sharing with local authorities’ Since its formation in 2020 it has significantly enhanced interoperability and cooperation among criminal justice partners including the police, enabling more effective targeting of Organised Criminal Groups.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 28 April 2025 to Question 47228, what his plans for the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive are following the Spending Review.

Our new Sustainable Farming Incentive offer will be more targeted to better meet priorities on food, farming and nature. More details on the offer will be available later in the summer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of penalties for fly-tipping in deterring repeat offences.

This Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of penalties for fly-tipping in deterring repeat offences. We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles involved in fly-tipping and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment. Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in tackling fly-tipping in the West Midlands.

Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment. Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop new guidance to support them to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.  We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool. We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course. In the meantime, Defra continue to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support the Falkland Islands government to preserve its (a) marine biodiversity, (b) sustainable fishing practices and (c) other aspects of its ecological environment.

Defra officials work closely with the Falkland Islands Government to ensure that Falkland Island interests are represented in international fisheries meetings at the UN and FAO, and that challenges in ensuring sustainable management of high seas fisheries in the South West Atlantic are addressed. Defra primarily supports the UK Overseas Territories, including the Falkland Islands, to protect their unique biodiversity and natural environments through the Darwin Plus programme. In the past 5 years, Darwin Plus has awarded funding to 28 projects of benefit to the Falkland Islands worth over £4 million, including 8 worth over £2 million dedicated to marine conservation. Projects have been working to:Strengthen protection for marine mammals and predators, such as seals, whales, dolphins, porpoises, and seabirds;Restore breeding habitat for Magellanic penguins;Solve why fur seal bycatch by commercial fisheries has been increasing and inform prevention measures; andPredict the impact of climate change on key species to support fishery and ecosystem resilience.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of publishing a local authority league table for incidences of fly-tipping.

This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a local authority league table for incidences of fly-tipping. Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and actions to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. In assessing the figures local authorities should not be classified as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ performers based purely on numbers of fly-tips and comparisons between local authorities should be made with care.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help tackle commercial fly-tipping involving construction and demolition waste.

This Government recently announced plans to move the regulation of waste carriers, brokers and dealers from a light-touch registration system into environmental permitting. This will mean that people who transport or control more than a certain volume of construction or demolition waste, which is produced by themselves in the course of their business, will be required to apply for the relevant standard rules permit. The reform will enhance the resources and capabilities available to the Environment Agency to take regulatory action and make it harder for rogue operators to escape detection. Local authorities also have enforcement powers to help tackle fly-tipping. We are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance for local authorities and have also announced a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool. We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up their mess and will provide further details on this commitment in due course. Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with local authorities, the Environment Agency and others to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 47228 on Sustainable Farming Incentive, whether the (a) launch and (b) rollout of the replacement Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be in 2025.

We will provide further details about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in summer 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers enrolled in the SFI scheme to transition to the forthcoming replacement programme.

We will provide further details about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in summer 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a litter and fly-tipping champion in Government.

This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a litter and fly-tipping champion in Government. Local authorities are usually best placed to respond to litter and fly-tipping problems in a way tailored to the communities in which they occur. Local authorities already they have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal including fixed penalty notices and prosecution. We encourage and support councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) national debate and (b) action plan on fly-tipping.

This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of a national debate or action plan on fly-tipping. We are committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing vehicles and prosecution, and we are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support local authorities to consistently and effectively exercise these powers. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing penalties for fly-tipping.

We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment. There are no plans to increase the fixed penalty levels at this time. The Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on entering the premises of (a) animal shelters and (b) rescue homes to assess (ii) animal welfare and (ii) conditions.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, local authorities and the police have powers to investigate allegations of animal cruelty or poor welfare, including powers of entry to premises such as animal shelters and rescue homes. Section 18 of the Act allows animals to be seized where necessary to prevent suffering.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national litter awareness course.

This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national litter awareness course. Local councils have a range of enforcement powers to tackle littering, including civil penalties of up to £500 that can be issued to the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown. Guidance for councils on littering enforcement explains that they are expected to combine enforcement with education in order to change behaviour.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a fourth round of grants under the fly-tipping grant scheme.

This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of a fourth round of grants. The Government is making available £69 billion to council budgets across England – a 6.8% cash terms increase, to help fund key responsibilities like tackling fly-tipping. We will continue to work with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group to highlight and share best practice with regards to tackling fly-tipping. Various practical tools, including case studies from previous grants, are available from their website https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 42598 on Recycling: Packaging, who is on the steering group; and which specific sectors are represented.

The Scheme Administrator Steering Group has an independent chair, UK Government officials, local authority representation, and business and producer representatives. Please see this GOV.UK page for Scheme Administrator Steering Group membership.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 43886 on Sustainable Farming Incentive, what his planned timetable is for the (a) launch date, (b) details, (c) application period, (d) determination and (e) awarding of funding for the replacement scheme.

Defra will be working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. This future SFI offer will build on what has made SFI effective so far. Further details about the reformed SFI offer will be announced following the spending review in summer 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 43886 on Sustainable Farming Incentive, what estimate his Department has made of the number of farmers impacted by the closure of the scheme; and whether they will be prioritised in future schemes.

Currently there are over 39, 000 live SFI agreements.The government will work with the farming and environmental sectors to prioritise funding for future years so we can target SFI actions fairly and effectively, focusing on helping less productive land contribute to our priorities for food, farming and nature.We will provide further details about the reformed SFI in summer 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 42597 on Packaging: Recycling, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the differential in weight between glass and plastic on glass producers.

In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme. This impact assessment included an estimate for pEPR fees per tonne of packaging material. This estimate did not split by packaging material type. Defra officials have engaged with industry and technical experts, to ensure that the modelling of local authority costs accurately reflect the on the ground reality of waste management. This confirmed that packaging volumes, rather than weight, are accounted for when determining the costs of kerbside dry recycling collections. This is especially important for heavier materials such as glass which would see higher base fees under a weight-based apportionment of these costs. Illustrative base fees for the 8 material categories have now been published.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring the person responsible for fly-tipping, rather than the landowner, to bear the costs of clean-up.

Where fly-tippers are prosecuted, upon conviction a cost order can already be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be recovered from the perpetrator. Local councils can also issue fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 to those who fly-tip, the income from which they must spend on clean up or enforcement. We are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to issue statutory enforcement guidance to help councils make full and proper use of their powers. We have also committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.