Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether the Government's plans for a skills-based immigration system after the UK leaves the EU will meet the skills requirements of the agri-food sector.

The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans.

The Government announced on 6 September its plans to introduce a pilot scheme for the admission of 2,500 workers from outside the EU to help meet seasonal labour needs in the agricultural sector.