The chair of the Environment Agency said yesterday (19 January) the funding the enforcement body received from the government for regulatory work had become increasingly “squeezed”.
Emma Howard Boyd was giving evidence at a meeting of the environment, food and rural affairs committee. She said: “If you look at the work that we carry out on the environment and regulatory side, that is where our funding from government has become squeezed.”
Emma Howard Boyd is chair of the Environment Agency
Ms Howard Boyd said about two thirds of the Agency’s budget came from the government.
“We have significant funding for our regulatory charges that come for the work that we do with business, paid for through permitting and other charges,” she said. “But when it comes to the discretionary work we are doing, that is where we are increasingly challenged by the grant and aid funding that we are receiving.”
Ms Howard Boyd previously called for greater funding from the government to help the enforcement body better prevent pollution of the environment last October (see letsrecycle.com story).
Waste crime
Ms Howard Boyd also referenced the work of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC), the taskforce for tackling waste crime which this week celebrated its first anniversary (see letsrecycle.com story).
The JUWC celebrated its first anniversary this week (picture: Environment Agency)
“The way we are now working jointly with other bodies and the emphasis that has been put into this has put waste into a better place in terms of ways of working,” Ms Howard Boyd said.
She added: “It is still a big task to make sure that we are sufficiently working on stopping the activities of those operators that are acting criminally. That is where engagement with other enforcement bodies, often well away from pollution but say from tax, working with legitimate part of the waste industry is the way we can bring that aspect of work under control.”
The chief executive of the Agency, Sir James Bevan, also gave evidence at the meeting. He hailed the JUWC’s week of action in October, where he said more than 500 vehicles were stopped, more than 150 sites were visited, 150 criminal offences were identified, and 29 arrests were made.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
