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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the weighted scores given to the academic studies reviewed by Natural England in its paper on the effects of managed burning (NEER155); and if whether she will publish them.

No such assessment has been made by Defra. This is because NEER155 went through rigorous peer review prior to publication, with all external peer reviewers being leading peatland experts at major universities and other expert institutions.

NEER155 is the most comprehensive evidence review available on the effects of managed burning on upland peatlands.