Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps the Government is taking to tackle labour shortages in farming; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect of those shortages on trade deals.

The Government has announced that the seasonal worker visa route will be 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. This will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 if necessary.

The Government is also working with industry to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and farming sectors to attract more UK workers. The Government does not expect any impacts of temporary labour shortages on our future trade agenda.