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Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2007

My Lords, I had no intention of contributing, however briefly, to this debate, but having listened to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, I would be grateful if the Minister could say anything to clarify the quantum of money at stake. Attracting overseas students is a highly competitive business between nations. For example, the Australian Government are very active in supporting their universities to attract overseas students at little cost to the universities. Germany is immensely active in this, and other countries are too. It would be helpful to know the extent to which this is a major source of overseas earnings and contributions to the Exchequer through indirect taxation, as the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, said. Because of the value of this form of overseas earnings to the United Kingdom, I regard as a material issue the extra costs that will fall on the university community as a whole and on students from overseas.