Government rejects Commons committee recommendations on labour shortages

The government has not demonstrated a strong understanding of the labour shortages facing the food and farming sector, the Commons Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee said as the government rejected major recommendations in its report.

In its response published on Thursday to the committee’s labour shortages report published in April, the government rejected the committee’s recommendation to lower the English language requirement for Skilled Worker Visa applicants in the food and farming sector such as for butchers.

It also rejected the committee’s recommendation to undertake a “lessons learnt” exercise on the temporary short-term visa schemes established last autumn. The government has also turned down the committee’s recommendation to make the Seasonal Workers Pilot a permanent scheme.

However, the government has announced that 10,000 additional seasonal worker visas will be issued for the remainder of 2022, of which 2,000 will be allocated to the poultry sector. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also said that it will commission an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain.

“The government’s overall response to our recommendations is wholly inadequate,” commented Sir Robert Goodwill MP, the Chair of the EFRA Committee, adding that the labour shortages pose real risks of further price rises for consumers in food stores, besides reducing UK competitiveness and increasing the dependency on imported food.

“The government really must listen to the experts – our farmers and our food producers. We need a more robust immigration regime that allows the farming and food sectors to plan ahead with certainty and grow their businesses. Otherwise, we are placing in danger the very future of the sector,” he said.

In the light of the government’s response, the committee has written to David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, who recently announced he would be carrying out an inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector.