Enabling an innovative, productive and competitive food supply chain which invests in its people and the skills they need is a priority for this Government<\/p>
<\/p>
The Government thanks the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee for its report into labour shortages in the food and farming sector. We are aware that there are both short and long-term workforce challenges across the food and farming sector, particularly with respect to seasonal labour. It is with great concern that we have seen evidence of horticulture businesses reducing their plantings, ploughing in crops or considering offshoring production because of concerns over labour availability, all of which have food security implications.<\/p>
<\/p>
Defra continues to work closely with industry and other government departments to understand labour supply and demand and its implications, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements, and to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce.\u202fWe extended the Seasonal Worker visa route until 2024 and expanded the number of visas available through this route to 40,000 (now including 2000 visas for poultry workers to meet pre-Christmas demand) as a result of the clear evidence of need this year. Last autumn we delivered emergency, temporary visa schemes for the poultry, pork, and HGV food transportation sectors in response to specific challenges, and introduced an accompanying package of non-immigration measures to alleviate pressures in the pig sector, including Private Storage Aid and Slaughter Incentive Payment Schemes.<\/p>
<\/p>
As announced in the Government Food Strategy, the Government will soon be commissioning an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain, covering automation, domestic labour and migration. The review will consider the challenges facing food and farming businesses to access the labour they require and will provide recommendations.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4401", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Victoria Prentis"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Banbury"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Victoria Prentis"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-09-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-09-05T13:24:13.3Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-07-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Food Supply"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made for the implications of his policy on food security of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee\u2019s report entitled Labour shortages in the food and farming sector, published 29 March 2022.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4653", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Stephen Morgan"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Portsmouth South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Morgan"} ], "uin" : "42187"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1491394", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1491394/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The department\u2019s spend on consultancy is published each year in the Annual Report and Accounts.<\/p>
<\/p>
2020-21<\/p>
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021<\/a> (page 100)<\/p> <\/p> 2019-20<\/p> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020<\/a> (page 87)<\/p> <\/p> 2018-19<\/p> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2018-to-2019<\/a> (page 64)<\/p> <\/p> 2017-18<\/p> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018<\/a> (page 51)<\/p> <\/p> 2016-17<\/p> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017<\/a> (page 42)<\/p> <\/p> The breakdown of this expenditure could only be provided by incurring disproportionate costs.<\/p> <\/p> Details of all Government contracts awarded from 2016 above £10,000 and £25,000 in the wider public sector are published on Contracts Finder<\/a>. Each award notice provides information on the name of the supplier, value of the contract, its purpose and information on the type of awarding procedure used. Government departments, their individual agencies and Arm\u2019s Length Bodies (ALBs) are required to publish all spend against individual suppliers above £25,000 on GOV.UK<\/a>.<\/p> <\/p> All Government departments and their individual ALBs and agencies are required to follow the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 in awarding contracts.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4401", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Victoria Prentis"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Banbury"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Victoria Prentis"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-09-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-09-05T13:03:44.86Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2022-07-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Consultants"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years; and if he will publish a breakdown of (a) the amount paid to each consultancy contracted, (b) the name of each consultancy contracted, (c) the specific matters on which they were consulted and (d) whether each contract was subject to usual Government procurement rules.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4782", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Neale Hanvey"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Neale Hanvey"}
], "uin" : "42244"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1491450", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1491450/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " (a) agency workers<\/p> Agency workers (more commonly referred to as \u201ccontingent labour\u201d or \u201ctemporary workers\u201d) are subject to a Cabinet Office controls framework to ensure robust governance of spending in this area.<\/p> <\/p> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contingent-labour-spend-control<\/a><\/p> <\/p> Commentary on contingent labour usage, if applicable, is available in departmental annual reports.<\/p> <\/p> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-reports-and-accounts-for-central-government-departments<\/a><\/p> <\/p> The Crown Commercial Service provides two frameworks specifically for the supply of Contingent Labour which are used by central government departments. These are:<\/p> <\/p> RM3749 - Public Sector Resourcing.<\/p> https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/rm3749<\/a><\/p> <\/p> This provides a managed service for departmental use including low supplier margins, regular pay rate benchmarking, comprehensive tracking and reporting of contingent labour assignments, full timesheeting and approvals technology and onboarding, contracting and payroll services.<\/p> <\/p> RM6160 - Non Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff<\/p>