Speeches by Cooper.

“I think we will continue to work with universities and with other organisations to make sure that we have both the benefits of international students coming to the UK, but also make sure that there are proper rules in place so we do not have misuse, and also proper arrangements for housing.”

“We continue to think that international students are very important. However, I also think that universities may need to make sure that their systems are not being misused. There have been cases in the past of misuse around student visas. Universities also need to ensure that there is adequate housing in the local area…”

“I am not sure it makes that much odds, if you know what I mean. The numbers are there, they are real, and you can add them up in different ways.”

“I think that international students are always really important to the UK. They bring investment into the UK. They also bring long-term links to countries all over the world. International students will always be important. From Opposition, we supported the changes that the previous Government had made around dependent…”

“One of the things that we will do in the White Paper is to better set out the links in what I sometimes think of as the quad arrangement. You would think of the approach that employers need to take, which is as represented effectively by the Industrial Strategy Council; the approach that we need to take to get more peo…”

“Our intention is for this to be about strengthening action against exploitation, some of which will be exploitation of UK resident workers and sometimes be exploitation of people who have been recruited from overseas, but overall we need to be tackling exploitation much more widely. The intention of the legislation and…”

“The Migration Advisory Committee already has to look at what the different labour market challenges might be in different parts of the country because of course that is going to vary. However, we have a national immigration system and the approach to visas and to visa controls needs to be a national one.”

“I will not set out the precise week or month—you know that it would be unwise for any Government Minister to do that—but we will be publishing the White Paper in the new year.”

“Our plan is to publish a White Paper in the new year that will set out how we will bring that migration down and will set out much more detail about how we want the new system to work, how to have a much more coherent approach to the labour market, how to link the work of the Migration Advisory Committee with those oth…”

“I think we also have to have stronger visa controls in place. The policies that were introduced by the previous Government after the implementation of Brexit ended up with things like a 20% discount for wages for overseas recruitment. I think that was completely the wrong approach. It encouraged undercutting. It was an…”

“Immigration has always been important with people coming to the UK over generations to work in public services, to found businesses and so on. However, it needs to be properly controlled and managed so that the system is fair and effective. In the space of just four years, we have seen net migration quadruple. In parti…”

“I have been very impressed by the dedication and determination of the civil servants right across the Home Office, the incredible hard work, and the commitment that so many people have to the core purpose of the Home Office, which is fundamentally about keeping people safe, whether that is about security of our borders…”

“Thank you very much, Chair. It is very kind of you to allow me to do so. Thank you for having me at what I think has always been the best Select Committee in Parliament. There is certainly a sense of karma for me to be sitting here, and for Dame Diana Johnson as well. I think there is probably also a bit of karma for t…”

“It is a fundamental principle of British policing that they are operationally independent. That principle is rooted right through the heart of British policing and remains immensely important. There will always be operational independence in terms of particular investigations, in terms of local priorities and in terms …”

“We are keen to do a major programme of policing reform but we want to do this with the Home Office working with policing to be able to do this. We are working at the moment on establishing joint teams to be able to work together to draw up proposals for a White Paper sometime next year on policing reform. Some of the c…”

“Yes, and this also links into your question, Chair, about how you make sure that you can encourage innovation and make sure that innovation is not penalised, but also make sure that you get take-up of successful innovation in other police forces right across the country. We do not currently have a strong enough framewo…”

“The Lord Chancellor is giving evidence in the next room as we speak. I am sure he will be being asked about some of the prison issues. The big focus of neighbourhood policing is around both preventing crime and tackling some crimes around anti-social behaviour, town centre crimes, issues around shoplifting, street thef…”

“Yes, I have spoken to him and we have announced, as part of the police settlement that we announced today, a £65 million increase in the national capital city grant. That reflects two things, first the existing grant for the capital cities because they obviously do have lots of national events that will take place in t…”

“The mayor has described it as the biggest increase for Met Police funding for many years. We know that police forces right across the country have faced very significant financial pressures in recent years, and we recognise that. Overall, this is a 6% increase in the cash funding for police forces, a 3.5% real increase…”

“And to you, Chair, thank you very much and happy Christmas to you all.”