§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment has been made or is planned of the effectiveness of fines levied by the Environment Agency on polluters in preventing(a) further incidences of pollution by the polluters and (b) incidences of 893W pollution from others who have not previously polluted; what changes are planned; and if she will make a statement; [99240]
(2) how much has been levied in fines by the Environment Agency against (a) companies, (b) local authorities and (c) individuals with regard to incidences of pollution, broken down by type of pollution incidence (i) in total, (ii) in each region and (iii) per fine in each year since 1995. [99239]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Environment Agency does not have the legal capacity to impose fines, which are a matter for the courts. The role of the Environment Agency is to present cases where they consider environmental damage to have been inflicted, and to maximise the chance of conviction by ensuring that all relevant information is made available to the court.
No assessment has yet been made of the preventive effect of fines levied against environmental offenders. The Department shares the Agency's view that the level of fines being imposed for pollution offences is generally too low. We are now working together and with others, especially the Magistrates Association, to ensure that magistrates are trained and have an increased awareness of the implications of polluting activity and consequently impose more realistic fines. To this end, the Association recently circulated relevant training material to all its 28,000 members. The Government are also exploring the possibility of developing general guidelines on sentencing for environmental offences.
The Agency does not hold statistical information on fines that predates the computerisation of their system in 1999. However, they produced the tables which address the question for convictions from 1999, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House.