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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the role of (a) UK agriculture and (b) farmers in (i) preventing and (ii) fighting wild fires.

In April 2021 Defra supported the development of a new training program, designed to consolidate knowledge, skills and understanding of vegetation fires including wildfire incidents.

To date, 794 Lantra Accredited prevention and response modules have been completed by public and private land managers. Between April 2021 and March 2025, Defra will have contributed a total of £105,000 towards the development and delivery of this training. We continue to work closely with a range of stakeholders including land managers, the Forestry Commission, NFU, environmental NGOs and the National Fire Chiefs Council to embed this training across England, and to identify and respond to further training requirements.