Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of foreign seasonal labour in the hospitality sector in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

Issues with recruitment in the Hospitality sector are not unique to the UK, with reports of similar issues in the USA, the Republic of Ireland and Spain. This indicates factors other than immigration policy need to be considered to resolve these issues.

Several roles in the hospitality sector (including chefs and managerial roles) are eligible for the Skilled Worker route in the Points Based System. Modelling by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) suggest the new, lower salary and expanded skills thresholds, strike a reasonable balance between controlling immigration and business access to labour.

Other roles will need to be filled from the resident workforce and those with full work rights, including the 6.5 million applicants under our EU Settlement Scheme, dependants of work visa holders, and those coming to the UK under our new Ukraine Schemes, the British National (Overseas) route, the Graduate route and Youth Mobility Schemes.

Further advice from the MAC has been against the creation of sector specific visa routes.