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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations he has received from the British soft fruit industry on vacancies in seasonal labour.

Defra engages regularly with key bodies in the agriculture and horticulture sector to explore seasonal labour. In September, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister met representatives from industry at Defra’s Seasonal Workforce Working Group to discuss the best practice for attracting and retaining workers and this included representatives from the soft fruit industry.

We are also directly engaging with industry through 2018 agricultural shows. Most recently the Secretary of State attended the Royal Highland Show. He spoke about various issues, including the labour needs of both skilled and unskilled workers across the UK.