Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Jim Cunningham

Wednesday 27th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Minister without Portfolio (Brandon Lewis)]

My hon. Friend is right to ask that question. We are focused on ensuring that we deliver a successful and positive exit from the European Union. The Cabinet Office works closely with colleagues in the Department for Exiting the European Union and other Departments to ensure that all those places are professionally filled. I can confirm that, as of the end of March 2018, some 5,500 staff have been recruited to the Departments most affected.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

T6. Further to the question about outsourcing, can the Minister—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Jim Cunningham

Monday 20th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

25. Whether she plans to exclude international students from the Government's net migration target.

[The Minister for Immigration (Brandon Lewis)]

I can be very clear: there is absolutely no limit on the number of international students who can come to the UK, and nor is there any plan to impose one. What we have seen this summer is that students are now compliant, and that means their effect on the net migration figures is marginal.

--- Later in debate ---

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady makes a good point. These things are always kept under review, but students leaving university as graduates will, with a graduate job, normally be able to qualify under the tier 2 visa system anyway, and I would encourage them to do that.

[Mr Cunningham]

But should the Minister not take the student figures out of the immigration figures, because students do not come here as asylum seekers? They actually come here and contribute to local economies, so there is a contradiction in the Government’s position.

[Brandon Lewis]

An awful lot of migrants who come here do not come as asylum seekers, and that is quite a wide issue. With regard to students, the net migration figures are assessed and published by the Office for National Statistics, which is entirely independent of Government, and those figures are based on the UN definition of a migrant, which is somebody who is in the country for 12 months or more.