Written question asked by James Clappison (Conservative) on Thursday, 17 February 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 February 2011. It was answered by Lord Willetts (Conservative) on Monday, 28 February 2011 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Pupils: Foreign Nationals

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the access performance indicators referred to in his Department's Guidance to the Director of Fair Access will include (a) non-UK citizens attending UK schools, (b) UK citizens attending schools outside the UK and (c) non-UK citizens attending schools outside the UK.

Answer: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes the performance indicators in higher education on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. All the access performance indicators are restricted to students who are residents of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland only, i.e. they do not report on non-UK residents. Therefore, neither non-UK residents attending UK schools nor non-UK residents attending schools outside the UK are included in the indicators.Subject to the residency condition (rather than a UK citizen condition), all UK students are reported on. However, UK residents who report their school as being overseas would normally be categorised as unknown for the state schools indicator. For the low participation neighbourhood (LPN) indicator, whether such students are categorised as unknown or LPN/not LPN, depends on where their home postcode is reported. If it is an overseas postcode, they will be classified as unknown. For the lower socio-economic groups indicator, UK residents will be included regardless of whether they studied at a UK or an overseas school.More information on the performance indicators is available on the HESA website:"http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1703

Secondary information