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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Natural England on its revised policy on heather management.

The most recent statement Natural England (NE) has put out in relation to heather management, has been their position statement on “Burning as a tool for the restoration of upland blanket bog”. On 24 January, NE informed Defra Ministers that a position statement would be published.

On 11 February, NE published the position statement.