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

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards peatland restoration, and what consideration they have given to banning sales of peat compost and peat-containing products which contribute to the destruction of peatland habitats in the UK and in Europe.

The Government recognises the importance of England’s peatlands, and in our manifesto, we committed to expanding nature-rich habitats such as peatlands. This will contribute to ensuring nature’s recovery, one of Defra’s five priorities. That is why this Government is investing £400 million to protect and restore nature, including our peatlands.

We have ambitions to restore hundreds of thousands of hectares of peatlands across the country, and we are working to ensure that we have the most effective mechanisms in place to go further than we have before. Peatland restoration is currently funded via the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, and going forwards will be primarily funded through Environmental Land Management schemes, such as the Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship schemes.

Ministers are committed to protecting our nature-rich habitats, including peat bogs and are looking at next steps for measures to end the use of peat in horticulture. We continue to work alongside the horticultural sector to support progress on the peat free transition.