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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of seasonal workers who were employed in (1) the horticultural sector, and (2) other forms of agriculture, in (a) 2017 to date, and (b) each of the preceding five years; and how many of those workers were migrants from EU countries.

Defra, as part of its June Survey of Horticulture and Agriculture, collects information on the number of workers on agricultural holdings, including the number of seasonal/ casual workers. The survey captures the number of people employed on commercial agricultural holdings on June 1st of that year.

Until 2015 the number of seasonal workers was reported for the whole of the UK. From 2016, the published seasonal numbers are for England only.

A significant number of these work in horticulture due to its high reliance on seasonal labour, however other agriculture sub-sectors also contribute to these figures. Defra does not collect data on the nationality of these workers.

The information requested can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry-in-england-and-the-uk-at-june