Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)

My Lords, I want to speak briefly to the amendments proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Patel, and the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey. The noble Lord, Lord Patel, mentioned that 7% of undergraduates who take medical degrees in the UK are from overseas. I briefly mentioned last week my conversations with the head of admissions at a Russell group medical school. An important point that I did not have time to raise then, but is appropriate to raise now, is the significant amount of money that that 7% contribute not only to that medical school but in additional payments to the local trust. I wanted to make your Lordships’ House aware of that, but I also want the Minister to talk about the consequences if we accepted the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, and just had British citizens as opposed to the British graduates the noble Lord Patel talked about. What impact would there be? We have held our tuition fees static for a while in this country, while those overseas students have been paying a phenomenal amount. I am just worried that we might throw the baby out with the bath water. The unintended consequence of making some of those courses unviable is a serious concern, and I think it appropriate to raise it at this point.