Immigration: International Students

Lord Green of Deddington Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Green of Deddington (CB)]

My Lords—

[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.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. Earlier this year, the Royal Statistical Society agreed with that approach and said that,

“we believe it is imperative for due attention to be paid to the international definitions of migration, which lead to the inclusion of students in the figures”.