Immigration: International Students

Debate between Lord Green of Deddington and Earl Howe

Monday 26th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Noble Lords]

Hannay!

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe) (Con)]

My Lords, it is an invidious choice between the noble Lords, Lord Hannay and Lord Green, but I think the noble Lord, Lord Green, was attempting to rise to his feet earlier.

[Lord Green of Deddington]

I am grateful to the noble Earl, and I hope that I may also be nothing if not consistent. Is the noble Baroness aware that the number of foreign nationals in the UK who arrive to study is, according to the Labour Force Survey, 1 million? In that case, is it not surely essential that they should be included in the migration statistics, as the ONS intends and as the Royal Statistical Society has recommended? It is a question not of who is allowed in but of counting them as they come and go.