Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the seasonal workers’ scheme.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Seasonal Worker visa route was specifically designed to support the horticulture sector in the United Kingdom where growers typically require higher volumes of labour, for relatively short-term periods of time, in line with seasonal production peaks.
As announced on 24 December 2021, the Seasonal Worker visa route will continue to operate until at least the end of 2024. A total of 40,000 visas are available in 2022, of which 38,000 were for horticulture with the remaining 2,000 allocated to poultry workers in the run up to Christmas. HM Government is carefully considering the position on visa quotas for 2023 and we will say more in due course.
HM Government closely monitors the Seasonal Worker visa route to ensure its effective operation, and works closely with industry to make sure that the workforce requirements for the food and farming sector are understood across government.