To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what technology his Department is supporting to enable people to apply for the pick for Britain programme; and whether that technology is compatible with other apps enabling people to work in the food sector during the covid-19 outbreak..
Answered on
4 June 2020
The Government is working closely with industry to ensure our food supply chains remain resilient and to help our world-leading farmers and growers access the labour they need over the busy harvest months, to ensure our excellent fruit and vegetables are on people’s plates over the summer months.
Recruitment efforts are underway by industry and we are encouraging as many people as possible to take up seasonal work on farms. The Pick for Britain website is a recently launched joint Defra and industry initiative to bring together people who are looking for work on UK farms with recruiters who have roles to fill. These jobs are being uploaded regularly via campaigns being run by recruiters specialising in seasonal work, so we would encourage people to check the Jobs page on www.pickforbritain.org.uk regularly. We are aware of job-matching apps, but these are industry managed and not something that the Government is actively involved in beyond enforcing relevant regulations.