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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk to the public, property and crops from sky lanterns.

In 2013, the UK and Welsh Governments jointly commissioned an independent study entitled ‘Sky lanterns and helium balloons: an assessment of impacts on livestock and the environment’ to identify and assess their impacts and risks primarily to livestock and the environment, but also their fire risk and the damage they do to crops. The report concluded that while the impact on livestock and the environment is low, there is however a potential fire safety risk. There is a responsibility on individuals to recognise the impact these products can have, particularly on very dry land and in periods of very hot weather such as we have experienced in recent weeks.