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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing an employer pays principle to help tackle (a) debt bondage and (b) labour exploitation of workers on the Seasonal Worker visa.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Together with the Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce, Defra jointly funded an independent investigation into the feasibility of applying the ‘employer pays principle’ to the horticulture sector, to understand how financial risks faced by workers can be mitigated.

The Government has considered the findings of the report but has no plans to mandate implementation of the employer pays principle in the horticulture sector. Welfare protections are already in place through the licensing and inspection processes provided by the Home Office and its agencies: the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and UK Visas and Immigration.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will hold discussions with his US counterpart on removing the 10% levy on Scottish whisky during forthcoming discussions on the UK-US trade deal.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We have already secured preferential access for Scotch whisky to the US market compared with other major economies and continue to have discussions on getting the best possible deal for all UK businesses and sectors.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to help prevent the exploitation of workers on the Seasonal Worker Visa in food supply chains.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Protecting workers from exploitation is paramount in the design and operation of the Seasonal Worker route. The Home Office undertakes extensive assurance action across the route, including significant numbers of boots on the ground visits, including interviews with randomly selected workers. Since March 2023, we have visited 387 farms and conducted 2560 interviews of both farm managers and workers.

Defra’s Annual Seasonal Worker survey showed that the vast majority of respondents (94.2%) reported a positive experience from their time in the UK and 96.9% expressed a desire to return.

Scheme Operators are required to have a clear employer transfer pathway in place as a condition of holding their sponsor licence, including transparent criteria for making a transfer request and a process for considering such requests. This is set out in published Home Office guidance, available at: Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor a seasonal worker - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We currently have five scheme operators for horticulture and poultry workers who are responsible for 43,000 employees. We carefully manage the allocation each operator receives to ensure that it is commensurate with their scale, capabilities and experience as a scheme operator. Allowing workers to move freely between operators is incompatible with this important safeguard as it could place individuals at greater risk of exploitation.

If a significant issue was identified with an individual employer, a Scheme Operator will promptly relocate any workers placed with that employer to a more appropriate farm. This can be done immediately with no need to for further visa applications or any interruption to the workers immigration status. The gives workers a safety net which explicitly ensures that they are not tied to their employer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who were detained in illegal working raids were entered into the National Referral Mechanism in the last 12 months.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Immigration Enforcement made 2,809 referrals to the National Referral Mechanism and 429 Duty to Notify reports in 2024. Modern slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2024 - GOV.UK. We are unable to provide data on how many of these referrals followed an illegal working visit.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what decisions have been taken on the use of Dundee Workforce Accommodation Alloway (Dundee Digs) DD4 8UA for housing asylum seekers.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government have committed to close all asylum hotels and to achieve this, we will look at a range of more appropriate sites like disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites so that we can reduce the impact on communities.

For the safety, security and wellbeing of staff and those being accommodated, the Home Office does not disclose information about accommodation sites which may or may not be utilised to the general public.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff employed in nursing homes in Scotland have had to leave their employer in the last 12 months as a result of their employer's sponsor licence being withdrawn.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

This Government is committed to taking action against employers who breach their duties as sponsors and exploit migrant workers.

UKVI are working closely with DHSC’s funded Regional Partnerships to ensure workers impacted in England have access to vacancies in Scotland. UKVI are also working with Scottish officials to deliver processes to support workers impacted by Scottish care providers receive the support they need.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nursing homes in Scotland have had their sponsor licence withdrawn this year.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

This Government is committed to taking action against employers who breach their duties as sponsors and exploit migrant workers.

UKVI are working closely with DHSC’s funded Regional Partnerships to ensure workers impacted in England have access to vacancies in Scotland. UKVI are also working with Scottish officials to deliver processes to support workers impacted by Scottish care providers receive the support they need.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of firefighters' public pension scheme managers extending the deadline to issue Remediable Service Statements past the original deadline of 31 March 2025.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

A Remediable Service Statement sets out the benefits options available to members of the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme in order to remedy the discrimination found in McCloud. Delivery is managed locally by Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs), who may decide to extend the deadline beyond March 2025 in certain specific circumstances. Where an FRA has made such a decision, members may have to wait longer to receive the necessary information to make a decision regarding which pension benefits they wish to receive.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to hold an inquiry into the employment of Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 19 November to question 90113.

Reduction to UK Official Development Assistance

Staff at Rockstar Games

Kanzen For Life People’s Choice Award Winners at the 2025 Social Enterprise Awards Scotland

UN International Human Rights Defenders Day

Digital ID and civil liberties

Professional integrity of BBC journalists

Team GB at the 2025 Deaflympics

Thanking postal workers

Palestine Action hunger strike

Phenylketonuria awareness and access to treatment (No. 2)

Rural Fuel Duty Relief Scheme

Bank closures, digital exclusion and cyber risks

Marjorie Bahhaj

Repression following the Iran-Israel war

Gaelic and Scots recognised as official languages

Detention of Hassan Mushaima and Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace

Palestinian children in Israeli military detention

North East Fife restaurants named among world’s best

Russian shadow fleet

Habitat regulations

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025

Dr Irene Oldfather and the Scottish Advisory Forum on Europe

Israel’s use of cluster munitions

Royal Mail's universal service obligation

Buying community energy locally

Cumulative disruption proposals and the right to protest

Ukrainian Permission Extension Scheme

Two-child limit

Kashmir Black Day and self-determination

Government proposals for mandatory digital ID

Impact of extreme weather on farming

Scott & Fyfe at the Courier Business Awards 2025

Held In Our Hearts

Media Plurality and Press Freedom in Parliament