Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to provide suppression and prevention training on wildfires for the Fire and Rescue Service.

The National Fire Chiefs Council are responsible for driving work to further improve the fire sector’s approach to wildfire preparedness. They are increasing the number of specialist wildfire tactical advisors across the country and are developing a wildfires asset register to more easily source specialist equipment when required.

In addition, the Home Office supports services by providing over £27m for specialist capabilities, such as high-volume pumps, which are well used to combat major wildfires. This funding covers the training required for the pumps, which is overseen by the National Resilience Assurance Team in Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.