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 potential impact of the reduction in the sheep population over the last three years on wildfire risk.

Defra has made no assessment of the potential impact of the reduction in the sheep population over the last three years on wildfire risk. The sheep sector is an important component of our rural landscape. The size of the flock changes year to year and sheep graze over a wide geographic area across the country, making any assessment difficult to undertake.

Each fire and rescue authority is, however, required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfire), through their Community Risk Management Plan.

Since 2024 the Government has funded a 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.