Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 20th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central) (Lab)]

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

[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.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hurd]

I have spoken with or visited every single police force in England and Wales, including Kent, so I am well aware of the concerns felt by colleagues from rural areas about pressures on the police and the support that rural communities get. That all feeds into the process of evidence-based decision making by the Government on the right funding settlement for 2018-19.

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

T9. Will the Home Secretary take steps to ensure that police forces are better resourced to roll out domestic violence protection orders more widely?

[Amber Rudd]

I assure the hon. Gentleman that we will always make sure that police forces have the resources they need.