My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for her remarks and for the fact that she broadly approves of what we are trying to do.
As regards operational plans, any producer who does not comply with their obligations would face enforcement action by the Environment Agency. We feel that the current operational plan does not add to the value of its function. We are very conscious of the circular economy in relation to recycling. Any amendment will not come into force until 2020 at the earliest. These deregulatory changes will reduce the burden on businesses ahead of that. I hope that that answers the noble Baroness’s questions. These additional regulations will allow the Environment Agency further to increase its focus on tackling those who may seek to skirt around or deliberately evade their obligations.
Another piece of inspiration has come from behind me. We acknowledge that producer responsibility costs do not all fall on producers, as they do in Europe, but our market-based system delivers comparable recycling rates. Does that answer the noble Baroness’s question?