Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the policies in the Written Ministerial Statement entitled Immigration update by the Secretary of State for the Home Department of 23 May 2023, HCWS800, on the recruitment of trainee teachers from overseas.

The UK has been successful in delivering the Government’s International Education Strategy ambition of hosting at least 600,000 students per year by 2030, for two years running, and we expect that universities will be able to adapt to reduced dependant numbers.

The Department’s offer to international students remains extremely competitive and we are committed to ensuring the UK remains a destination of choice for international students from across the globe. International students make a significant economic and cultural contribution to the UK’s higher education sector, which is good for our universities and delivers growth at home. Those affected by these changes will predominantly be dependants of international students.

The Department is also taking action to attract and recruit the very best teachers, including offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. The Department has extended bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to non UK trainees in languages and physics.