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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role her Department considers carefully controlled prescribed burning should play in reducing wildfire risk; and in what circumstances burning on peatland may be authorised under a licence or an approved Wildfire Management Plan.

This Government is committed to protecting peatlands. In September 2025, the Heather and Grass etc Burning (England) Regulations 2021 were amended, expanding restrictions on unnecessary burning practices, to enhance protection of upland deep peat and improve the resilience of moorlands.

Under the Regulations, land managers can apply for a licence to burn to reduce the impacts of wildfire where there is no feasible alternative and where there is a clear, evidenced need. Applicants must provide robust evidence demonstrating why alternative vegetation management methods are not feasible and must set out what wider actions they are taking to move the site away from the need to burn in future.