Horticulture: Seasonal Workers

(asked on 25th February 2020) - View Source

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the quantity of unpicked (1) apples, (2) cherries, (3) blueberries, (4) raspberries, (5) other fruit, (6) vegetable crops, and (7) other horticultural produce, in 2019, as a result of a shortage of seasonal labour; and what plans they have to address any issues which may arise from any shortage of labour in 2020.


This question was answered on 9th March 2020

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The information requested on quantities of unpicked horticultural produce is not held by Defra.

It is a priority of this Government to enable an innovative, productive and competitive food supply chain, which invests in its people and skills.

In 2018, the Government introduced a new pilot scheme for 2019 and 2020 enabling up to 2500 non-EEA migrant workers per year to come to the UK to undertake seasonal employment in the edible Horticultural sector. The Government has now expanded the Seasonal Workers Pilot for 2020 from 2,500 to 10,000 workers.

The pilot will continue to operate in the edible horticulture sector, to support farmers growing UK fruit and vegetables. This is the sector of agriculture which has been experiencing the most severe seasonal labour shortages, and which the pilot aims to support.

Although the numbers are increasing for 2020, based on the success of the pilot so far, it is not designed to meet the full labour needs of the horticulture sector. This workforce boost will complement the EU workers already travelling to the UK this year to provide seasonal labour on farms during the busy harvest months.

Business will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status and there will continue to be other flexibility in the system, including youth mobility schemes and the MAC has already pointed to the estimated 170,000 recently arrived non-EU citizens currently in low-skilled occupations.

The EU Settlement Scheme, which opened in March 2019 has already received more than 3.2 million applications from EU citizens who are be able to stay and work in the UK. EU citizens and their family members do not need to do anything immediately: there will be no change to their current rights until the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020; and the deadline for applications to the scheme for those resident here by the end of 2020 will be 30 June 2021.

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