Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues to Natural England on the circumstances in which staff may not attempt to fight wildfires on land they manage.

Decisions on when and how Natural England (NE) staff respond to wildfire on land they manage are made by NE, and are dependent on the size of the fire, the training and equipment staff on site can access, and advice from the local Fire and Rescue Service. Defra has not issued any direct guidelines to NE on this subject but operational staff working on NE’S reserves at high risk of wildfire undertake Lantra-certified wildfire management training that Defra commissioned the Forestry Commission to develop.