Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the response by Lord Callanan on 3 July (HL Deb col 984) that "the “Panorama” programme provided an inaccurate representation of practices by the forestry and biomass sector on the ground", what evidence they have for that assertion.

DESNZ officials engaged with forestry experts and relevant officials to understand the evidence about the claims made in the Panorama programme and found no evidence that biomass pellets used in the UK are unsustainable or were associated with forest destruction. In addition, as part of ongoing scheme compliance monitoring, Ofgem opened an additional assurance audit of Drax. Based on the evidence reviewed to date, Ofgem has not established any non-compliance that would affect the issue of Renewables Obligation Certificates to Drax.