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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on plans to tackle labour shortages in the fishing industry.

My officials and I regularly engage both other departments and the fishing industry, including in Northern Ireland, to understand their labour needs. In March 2023 Defra commissioned a survey to further understand the labour needs of the UK fishing fleet. The Government continues to support the sector to attract the labour it needs, having recently rejected the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendation that fishing occupations (51190 and 9119) be removed from the new Immigration Salary List. This means that those recruiting workers in these occupations will need to pay £30,960 instead of £38,700 when making use of the Skilled Worker visa.

We note, however, the Migration Advisory Committee’s concerns about exploitation in the fishing industry and the limited evidence of the sector’s efforts to reduce its reliance on immigration. It is important that industry looks to the domestic workforce to fill vacancies. However, the Government recognises that the sector needs further support to address some of these issues. Labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.