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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what procedures or studies her Department has put in place to monitor the availability of people with EU Settled Status to work in seasonal worker roles in (a) ornamental horticulture and (b) horticulture.

Defra works across Government and with industry throughout the year to observe the latest data on the composition of the UK horticultural workforce and to share this knowledge. This includes the availability of workers with EU Settled Status for these roles.

In 2022 and beyond, agricultural businesses will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over 5.6 million EU citizens and their families have been granted settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, as of December 2021. EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to do seasonal work in 2022 and beyond.

On 24 December 2021, the Government also announced that the Seasonal Worker Visa Route has been extended to 2024 to allow overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. 30,000 visas will be available in 2022. This will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 visas if there is clear evidence of need.

In addition to these schemes, Defra is also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to raise awareness of career opportunities within the edible and ornamental horticulture sectors among UK workers, some of whom may have EU settled status.