Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding the role of sheep shearer to the Temporary Shortage List.

The Government’s approach is to link migration policy and visa controls to skills and labour market policies, so that immigration is not used as an alternative to training or tackling workforce problems in the UK.  This approach is important to enabling delivery of the Government’s broader agenda.

The Temporary Shortage List (TSL) does not include agricultural contractors or sheep shearers. It is only made up of occupations which are key to the Industrial Strategy or delivering critical infrastructure, and where ambitious jobs plans are in place to maximise the use of the UK workforce.