§ Mr. Tim Smithasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will report further on the Government's policy towards overseas students following the statement on 8 February by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Official Report, c. 883–84.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweFollowing the statement on 8 February 1983 by the then Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, a paper was placed in the Library of the House setting out in some detail the Government's response to the Overseas Students' Trust—OST—study. A number of important developments in these fields have taken place since then. The new shared-funding and other scholarships and awards schemes and new machinery to handle these have been established; more flexibility over fixing fees has been introduced; and there has been wide consultation on the Government's policy for overseas students culminating in the recent round table meeting under the chairmanship of my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State. I am placing in the Library a further paper bringing up to date the information given in the February paper and containing the Government's response to those recommendations of the OST study which required further examination.