Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the removal of the ability of taught masters students to bring dependents on trends in the number of overseas female applicants for graduate visas.

The Home Office considers its Public Sector Equality Duty in the development of all policy. An Impact Assessment (IA) was also produced for the student dependant reforms.

In addition, the Migration Advisory Committee are currently undertaking a review of the Graduate route. We will consider any evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.