Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has covered all the points with his usual clarity, as has the noble Viscount. Like them, I have considerable doubts about the new rules and the way they have been introduced. Overseas students are essential to our economy, and we have to be especially careful about how we handle these arrivals. I, of course, recognise the general need for controls on bogus education, but I suspect that the UKBA's system of monitoring the rules gets choked every time by the arrival of new ones. I am very concerned about the restriction on the amount of work, which cannot be enough to help poorer students live here. I am concerned about the prohibition on family members. What is the Minister's answer to the points made by the UKCISA about, for example, the effect on women students from the Middle East? With regard to English language competence, I agree with the noble Viscount that there could be serious consequences for our economy if the requirement for students has to be raised. I wonder whether the UKBA has calculated the effect of such a change. Does the Minister with hindsight agree with the Merits Committee that it was disappointing that the UKBA did not publish an analysis of the consultation responses and did not, until now, complete the impact assessment that might have helped in the debate? Noble Lords put it more forcefully than that. On the wider issue of student visas, the Government told the Home Affairs Committee in December that: ""The implementation of PBS T4 has placed a particular strain on the system"," last summer, especially in India and Pakistan. Does the Minister think that the new rules will put more or less strain on the system as a whole, including sponsorship? How many visa sections are still left open to students in those countries? Does he accept that penalising whole countries—I think Nepal is also on the list—for breaches in Immigration Rules or an overheated system discriminates against students who have legitimate claims to come here? Is it not likely that a new layer of criminal fixers will come and offer their highly priced services to help better-off students evade or avoid the rules?