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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the quantity of peat-based compost sold in garden centres and by other retailers in each of the last three years.

My officials met with retailers, and other interested parties, at a roundtable on 24 August 2020 to consider the use of peat in the horticultural sector. The roundtable was part of a series of roundtables to discuss the England Peat Strategy. The Government continues to be committed to phasing out the use of peat in horticulture in England, and we will set out plans to speed this up in the England Peat Strategy. We plan on publishing the strategy later this year.

Data on the quantity of peat sold in the UK is only available for 2018 and 2019. The total volume of peat sold in 2018 was 2.11 million m³, and 2.06 million m³ in 2019.