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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licence applications his Department has received for burning on deep peat within (a) Special Protection Areas and (b) Special Areas of Conservation in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022 to date; and how many of those licence applications have been granted.

The Secretary of State received and refused one application for a licence pursuant to The Heather and Grass etc Burning (England) Regulations 2021 during the 2021/22 burning season (October 2021 - April 2022).

Details on the number of applications received and granted for the 2022/23 burning season will be published at its conclusion.