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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme on the economic output of the horticultural industry in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland since 2014.

The Government keeps its position on seasonal workers under close review.

Defra has been monitoring the economic output of the horticultural industry and there has been an increase in output in real terms between 2014 and 2017 (latest available data) for both the UK and Scotland.

According to Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2017^[1] output of potatoes, vegetables and horticultural products in the UK saw an increase of £531 million in real terms between 2014 and 2017. Output of fruit in the UK saw an increase of £110 million between 2014 and 2017 in real terms.

Output of the horticultural industry in Scotland increased between 2014 and 2017 by £66million in nominal terms. These figures have been taken from the Scottish Government website. ^[2][3]

[1]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/712317/AUK-2017-31may18.pdf

[2]https://beta.gov.scot/publications/total-income-farming-estimates-scotland-2014-2016/documents/00516835.xlsx

[3]https://beta.gov.scot/publications/total-income-farming-estimates-fo-scotland-2015-2017/documents/00530805.xls