Covid-19: International Language Schools

Anthony Mangnall Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this Adjournment debate. She has said everything that I would have said in my speech, so I will keep my remarks extremely brief.

I urge the Government and the Minister to look at the guidance we can provide to encourage foreign international students to our language schools. I am proud to represent a constituency that has two prominent language schools—English in Totnes and the Totnes European School—and there are a number of others in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster). There is a significant problem. If we are not allowed to attract students to this country and to our language schools in the period between May and September, those schools will lose a significant part of their income, with the consequence that their future is in doubt. In addition to the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Caroline Ansell), I ask the Government for a couple of things: guidance to make sure that we can attract students when air bridges are opened, and the provision of a clear funding structure, if necessary, to allow the schools to secure their future into 2021.

There is a cultural significance to the schools in this country. We should be proud of attracting students from across the world to this country, to see and to learn about our history and our culture and to learn our language. That is something that I feel we can develop in the coming years, as we progress and develop our education system. So many of the students who have come have no clear guidelines. If the Government can provide that, it will be reassuring. We know that in a crisis, reassurance is the vaccine, if I can put it like that, that allows them to prepare for an uncertain future. Again, I thank my hon. Friend for enabling this subject to be debated in the House.

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[Graham Stuart]

As a trade Minister, I am hesitant to veer off into a Home Office area of responsibility. It is always important to remember, as a member of the Government, that you are like a member of the Borg: you have but a single thought, and you should ensure that you entirely comply, regardless of what your face may say on any particular issue. The words are terribly important.

English language teaching is central to broader educational success. We have more than 500 accredited centres based right across the country, creating tens of thousands of jobs and generating education exports. We think the figure may even be more like £1.6 billion, but I suppose people have different numbers. It is a very significant number and is part of that wider education piece, with well over £20 billion of educational exports from this country last year.

Our world-class ELT providers are having a profound impact on the young people they teach, in many cases helping develop a lifetime of affinity to and affection for the UK. Some 80% of students told English UK—the organisation that represents the more than 400 ELT providers—that they planned to return to this country after their courses ended for travel or further study. That is a huge vote of confidence in our ELT sector and our country as a whole as we compete in an increasingly competitive global educational marketplace.

[Anthony Mangnall]

I am sorry to add a further point, but does my hon. Friend also recognise the significance of the facts that 35,000 jobs are dependent on ELT schools and that host families play a significant role in hosting those international students?

[Graham Stuart]

My hon. Friend makes suitable points, although in an Adjournment debate I think two bites of the cherry is a little greedy. His points are none the less well made.

English language teaching is a crucial industry for many of our coastal towns and cities, whose economies and cultural life are enriched by the presence of international students. That includes the five accredited ELT centres in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne.

We have focused tonight so far predominantly on the direct benefits that the sector delivers, but English language teaching plays a key role in underpinning the UK’s wider education system by helping unlock the door for thousands of overseas students to courses at British universities and further education establishments. ELT is not only valuable in itself, but is a pipeline to the broader, wider educational offer.