Lords waste crime concludes by hearing from Defra Minister and Government agencies

The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee concludes its short inquiry into waste crime on Wednesday 17 September by hearing from Mary Creagh CBE MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Nature), Defra. Also giving evidence will be representatives from the Environment Agency and HM Revenue and Customs.     

The session will take place from 10am. It can be followed live or afterwards on Parliament TV or in person in the Palace of Westminster (committee room 4).

Giving evidence from 10am will be:

• Phil Davies,
  Manager of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, Environment Agency;

• Steve Molyneux,
  Deputy Director, Waste & Resources, Environment Agency;

• Richard Las,
  Chief Investigation Officer and Fraud Investigation Service Director, His Majesty's Revenue & Customs.

Questions from the committee will cover the following areas:

• achievements of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and Economic Crime Unit;
• intelligence sharing with police forces, local authorities and other relevant agencies;
• Environment Agency priorities and budget for regulatory compliance;
• timescales to respond to and investigate a report of a serious waste crime;
• the Treasury's landfill tax reform proposals.
  
  

Giving evidence from 11am will be:

• Mary Creagh,
  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Nature), Defra;
  
  
• Emma Bourne,
  Director for Circular Economy, Defra.

Questions from the committee will cover the following areas:

• progress of the Government's target to seek to eliminate waste crime 2043;
• progress of mandatory digital waste tracking;
• Environment Agency waste crime resourcing;
• why land owners and occupiers are being held responsible for cleaning up illegal waste from their land and the related costs.

Notes to editors

1. The Environment and Climate Change Committee considers matters relating to the environment and climate change.
   
   
2. This short inquiry will consider waste crime, with a focus on serious and organised waste crime such as illegal waste sites and illegal dumping that pose a serious environmental risk. It will seek to understand the avenues for and prevalent forms of waste crime and their impacts. It will also aim to assess the efficacy of current regulatory, monitoring and enforcement regimes and consider the Government's plans to address the problem.
   
   
3. The Committee will write to the Government with its findings and recommendations in late October/early November 2025.