Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of students who have been unable to accept (a) places on courses and (b) research positions due to delays in issuing Academic Technology Approval Scheme certificates; and if will he make a statement.

The UK takes its responsibility towards countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional military technology seriously. The Academic Technology Approval Scheme is a thorough, necessary and proportionate tool to protect UK research from misappropriation and divergence to military programmes of concern. The majority of applications are processed within published timescales and we continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme.