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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of amending visa rules for fishing crew to provide additional (a) employment and (b) welfare rights.

The Government understands that there are labour shortages across our seafood sectors, and ensuring sufficient labour availability in critical sectors is a Defra priority. The welfare of workers is of utmost importance to this Government as we look to build a coherent approach to skills, migration and labour market policy.