§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many successful prosecutions have been brought against duty bodies under part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryInformation on the number of litter abatement orders obtained and litter abatement notices served on duty bodies is not held centrally. However, the Tidy Britain Group, with the encouragement of my Department, undertook a survey of all local authorities in July this year to monitor the implementation of part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. None of the 331 respondents reported that prosecutions had been brought against them, although 13 authorities said that they had been notified of an intention to bring a prosecution under part IV.
Information on the number of duty bodies prosecuted in 1991 for failing to comply with a litter abatement order or a litter abatement notice under sections 91 and 92 of the Act will be available along with the publication of the annual series of criminal statistics in late 1992.
The number of prosecutions is not a reflection of the success of the measures in the Act, which are designed primarily as deterrents.