Extract from Oral answer
(Lords) on Terrorism: Domestic Extremism
(CB):
My Lords, I emphasise the concern over definitions. In the 1980s,
when Sikhs were persecuted throughout India, when they were
blamed and called terrorists and extremists, I was asked by the
BBC whether I was a moderate or an extremist. I replied, “I am
extremely moderate”. Such words have no meaning. We must get
beyond these smear definitions and look to what actually concerns
us.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con): As someone who is extremely moderate as
well, I do not disagree with the noble Lord. The point I was
making in my Answer to the Question is that this definition was
made by the police.
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Extract from
consideration of Lords amendments to the Higher Education and
Research Bill
(Ilford North)
(Lab): I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, but
he is being rather selective with the statistics, because the UK
is losing market share across the world when it comes to
international students. In fact, the Higher Education Statistics
Agency shows that the UK has seen a reduction of more than 50% in
students coming to the UK from India. More than half of
international students in the UK say that they do not feel
welcome. Does he recognise the scale of that problem?
The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and
Innovation (Joseph Johnson): Perhaps the hon. Gentleman
is being selective. I can easily point to the 8% increase in
visas from Chinese nationals in 2016. Overall, if we look at the
numbers since 2011, visa applications are up by 10%, but let us
not get distracted further.
(Glasgow North West)
(SNP):...Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency
show that Scotland saw a 2% increase in non-EU international
entrants in the academic year 2014-15, compared with 2013-14. There
was an increase in the number of entrants from some countries,
including India, Pakistan and Nigeria. Although we
welcome those slight increases, there remains a significant fall in
the number of entrants from those countries since the academic year
2010-11. The number of Indian students has reduced by 59% since
2011, which is causing devastation across the sector. In
comparison, between 2012-13 and 2013-14, the number of
international students in higher education in Canada increased by
11%. It is able to capitalise on this market, which we are failing
to do...
(Sheffield Central)
(Lab):...Throughout the last Parliament, new measures
introduced by the Government made the UK a less attractive
destination. Those measures were put in place to help the
Government to hit their net migration targets, and this is why the
point made by the hon. Member for Bedford is so relevant. The
problem is that the Government view international students as part
of the migration debate, but that is not how the public see them.
As he said, polls show that 75% of the public want international
student numbers to stay the same or go up. It is also not the way
this place sees them, because in the last Parliament an
unprecedented five Select Committees of the House of Commons and
the House of Lords called for change and for taking international
students out of the net migration targets. These are challenging
times for our country as we chart our course in the post-Brexit
world. We need to win friends, not alienate them. As the Prime
Minister’s trade mission to India last year demonstrated, many of
those friends will put access to our universities at the heart of
their discussion about our future trading relationships. We need to
build on our successful sectors...
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