Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address reported labour shortages; and what assessment they have made of the impact of current immigration rules on workforce levels.

The labour market is strong by historical standards. The overall inactivity rate, a factor in labour shortages, remains historically low.

Where low pay is a barrier to certain sectors, the Government is supporting better pay by, for example, ensuring that all tips go to staff and increasing the National Living Wage to £10.42 an hour.

The Government is also investing £3.8bn into skills and further education over this Parliament to ensure workers can develop the skills that businesses need.

The Home Office meet regularly with a range of industry stakeholders to discuss immigration policy and the needs of each sector.