Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the fire service's preparedness to effectively (a) manage and (b) respond to forest fires in Surrey.

Fire and Rescue Services are operationally independent in England. Each Fire and Rescue Authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfire) through their Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), while having regard to the views of other key local responders.

In 24/25, the Home Office is funding a new National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.

Landowners and land managers are also encouraged by DEFRA to adopt good quality wildfire management plans, use sustainable land management practices that reduce fuel loads and restore their peatland to make them more resilient to the risk of wildfire.