Speeches by Hardy.

“The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. On sharing best practice, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is chairing the national fly-tipping prevention group. It includes representatives from a number of councils, the Environment Agency and the National Crime Agency. They share good practice, loo…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have introduced a 50% increase in the Environment Agency’s total budget for waste crime enforcement, so that it has the powers and resources to go after the waste criminals who are ruining our countryside.”

“We certainly do not want to get in the way of a good game of cricket. The weather does that enough; we certainly do not want our regulators to do that. I think the best thing in this instance would be for my hon. Friend to write to the nature Minister with more information, and I will see that she meets him to discuss …”

“I agree about the appalling state in which fly-tippers leave our environment. We are looking at reviewing council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of fly-tippers. We want councils to work more closely with the police, and to use the latest technology. We will be providing more guidance on what they can do, but I …”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point. It is appalling to see in the pictures how the pollution is right next to the river, and it is very concerning. Obviously criminal investigations are ongoing, and work is happening on the ground. The Environment Agency is working closely with all local partners, but my hon. Fri…”

“The hon. Lady raises an important point. It is important that we have all the money that the Home Office needs, so I hope she will be supporting our Budget next week.”

“Again, I share my hon. Friend’s upset and anger about the state in which waste criminals leave our countryside. We are taking forward many measures, but one that I think will be particularly important—the nature Minister was keen for me to mention it—is the digital waste tracking system. This will replace outdated meth…”

“I urge the hon. Gentleman in the first instance to request a meeting with the local Environment Agency area director and to ask what further evidence is required to enable them to seek a prosecution. Of course, if he is not satisfied after having that meeting, he should write to the nature Minister.”

“The Environment Agency is able to authorise mobile communications data and has the authority to use covert human intelligence sources, but if there is more that can be done, I urge my hon. Friend to write to the nature Minister with further details, and maybe even request a meeting with her.”

“My hon. Friend is right to be angry about the incidents that he is seeing in his constituency, and this is one of the reasons we have increased the Environment Agency funding for waste crime enforcement by 50%. Of course, we are always keen to work with all local authorities and to share best practice to ensure that al…”

“The hon. Gentleman raises an important issue. As I have mentioned, the national fly-tipping prevention group is sharing best practice through local authorities coming together to look at how we are tackling this issue across the country. Unfortunately, it is one that seems to be everywhere at the moment.”

“As I understand it, all waste incinerators are tightly permitted. If there are problems with permitting or if the right hon. Member believes that permits are being broken, I encourage him to contact the local Environment Agency office so that it can be urgently investigated.”

“My hon. Friend raises an important issue. I am sorry to hear that there will not be a prosecution. She might want to write to the nature Minister with more details and information, as perhaps we could look at that in more detail than we have.”

“I absolutely agree that waste criminals should face the full force of the law and be punished and fined for their activities.”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There needs to be greater education on who we are giving our waste to. Digital waste tracking will make a big difference, because we will be able to see whether the waste ends up in the place where it is meant to end up.”

“Of course we need to have a legal operating system, and it needs to be based on the cost of enforcement. We cannot have a legal system that ends up costing the Government and the taxpayer more. There needs to be a system that is fair and that operates well, but one of the fundamental problems we have with waste crime i…”

“The hon. Lady is absolutely right. One of the ways to tackle this is to go after the criminals with all the legal powers we have. The legal powers we have in this particular case could include an unlimited fine.”

“I think it is a shame that while the hon. Gentleman raises this issue here, on the ground he unfortunately does not seem able to work cross-party to actually deal with it. I encourage him to put party politics to one side and work with the people in the local area to bring this issue to an end.”

“As luck would have it, the Home Affairs team happens to be on the Front Bench just now, and they will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s question.”

“I thank my hon. and learned Friend for the kind offer, although I might not take him up on an outdoor swim in November or December. This is a really important issue. We have pledged to halve sewage pollution by 2030 and bathing water sites are being prioritised for upgrades because we recognise how important they are f…”