Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to improve the access of migrant workers to jobs in the farming and agriculture sector.

The Home Office works closely with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to monitor the labour needs of the farming and Agricultural sector and will continue to monitor the labour needs of the economy more generally.

We have no plans to improve access for employers to recruit migrant workers into jobs in the farming and agricultural sector beyond those which qualify for our Skilled Worker Visa and the already expanded Seasonal Workers Pilot, which went from 10,000 to 30,000 places for 2021.

The Government wants employers to focus on training and investing in our domestic workforce rather than relying on labour from abroad. Employers should engage with the Department for Work and Pensions in the first instance, as they are best placed to help companies with recruitment issues.