Written question asked by John Hayes (Conservative) on Thursday, 12 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 16 January 2006. It was answered by Alan Johnson (Labour) on Thursday, 2 February 2006 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

UK Workforce

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Department is taking to (a) retain and (b) attract postgraduates in the UK work force; and what estimate he has made of the number of people with postgraduate qualifications relevant to business and industry that leave the UK to work abroad each year.

Answer: We have introduced several initiatives—we have raised Research Council-funded PhD stipends; improved professional training in PhDs; increased the average Research Council postdoctoral salary; improved training for postdoctoral researchers and introduced 1,000 new academic fellowships. A recent research report by the Higher Education Policy Institute stated that the UK gained 40 per cent. more staff than it lost over an eight-year period, from highly cited academics to post doctoral staff.My Department does not have any specific estimates of numbers leaving the UK to work abroad. I understand the Higher Education Statistics Agency collects data on destinations of postgraduates.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 442 c654-5W;442 c654-5W; 43077
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Department of Trade and Industry Government departments Qualifications Recruitment Staff Emigration Postgraduate education
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk