Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of health and safety in the agricultural sector.

The number of fatal injuries in the agriculture sector fluctuates each year, and as such it is not possible to draw conclusions from figures for individual years. The annual number of deaths averaged over a five year rolling period is broadly static and remains a cause for concern for the Health and Safety Executive, the Farm Safety Partnerships (FSP) in England, Scotland and Wales, the Agriculture Industry Advisory Committee (AIAC) and the industry itself.

The Health and Safety Executive publishes figures on health and safety in the agriculture sector in the attached document “Statistics on fatal injuries in the workplace in Great Britain 2016”. Further information can also be found in the published report “Health and safety in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Great Britain, 2015/16”, which is also attached.