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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to achieve a reduction in the amount of open countryside covered by bracken.

Through our agri-environment schemes we encourage farmers and land managers to look after and manage their local environments. These agreements support a number of management actions, including bracken control. Currently 881 agreements specifically include action that helps control bracken. This covers 16,527 hectares of land.