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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the seasonal worker scheme.

Defra is aware that in recent years a significant proportion of our seasonal labour has been undertaken by Ukrainian and Russian nationals. In recent months, Defra has engaged extensively with the licensed operators of the seasonal worker visa route to prepare and advance thorough contingency plans in response to the escalating situation in Ukraine. Operators can recruit from any country they choose for the seasonal workers visa route and in 2021 recruitment spanned across almost 50 different countries.

Defra will continue to closely monitor the supply of labour to UK horticulture throughout the year, working with operators and sector growers to ensure there is sufficient labour to bring home the harvest in 2022.