Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has conducted a risk assessment of fully online English language testing for migrants seeking to come to the UK.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office has carefully considered the risks of a remote delivery model as part of the procurement to replace current Secure English Language Testing arrangements.

The key risks centre on maintaining the integrity and security of the immigration system, including identity assurance, protection against impersonation, and confidence in the reliability of test results. The Home Office has engaged the market to understand what capability is available to maintain high standards of security and integrity and has developed a robust security schedule and solution requirements to ensure this remains at the heart of the digital by default solution.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has conducted (a) an evaluation and (b) risk report on the potential of cheating within fully remote English language testing for migrants.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office has carefully considered and evaluated the risks of a remote delivery model as part of the procurement to replace current Secure English Language Testing arrangements. This evaluation has informed the development of the Department's security requirements and procurement approach.

Any delivery model must meet appropriate integrity requirements and principles including data security, cyber security, accessibility, fraud risk, and prevention to ensure compliance with Home Office Policy and ensure that the service delivers the fundamental principles underpinning our Immigration policies and our visa journey. This compliance will be assessed throughout the tender process to ensure the strictest compliance with Home Office security parameters.

The ongoing Home Office English Language Test procurement is explicitly designed to test bidders' ability to meet these standards, and the Department will adopt only those solutions that demonstrably maintain the high level of assurance required.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the security of fully remote English language testing in the immigration system.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Before any decision can be made to formally include remote testing as part of the Home Office English Language Testing service, the Home Office will ensure a full Cyber Security Assessment including a Threat Assessment is conducted to ensure compliance with Home Office Policy.

In addition, any delivery model must meet appropriate integrity requirements and principles including data security, cyber security, accessibility, fraud risk and prevention to ensure compliance with Home Office Policy and ensure that the service delivers the fundamental principles underpinning our Immigration policies and our visa journey. This compliance will be assessed throughout the tender process to ensure the strictest compliance with Home Office security parameters.