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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the risk of wildfires in the North West.

Defra funding schemes are supporting landscape-scale action to help land managers adapt to increasing wildfire risk. This includes practical measures to reduce fire spread and severity, improve access and preparedness for firefighting, and strengthen resilience while also supporting nature and climate objectives.

The Government remains committed to rewetting peatlands and wetlands as one of the best ways to protect some of our most valuable landscapes from fire. Changing the way agricultural land is used and managed is an important part of wildfire resilience and can also deliver wider benefits for biodiversity, carbon storage and water regulation. The Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme provides funding to restore peatlands. A number of projects have been funded in the North West, these include projects with the Yorkshire Peat Partnership in Cumbria and the National Trust in Lancashire.