Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question 249833, what proportion of students (a) passed and (b) failed the English language test with each approved provider in each of the last five years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information requested is not held centrally by the Home Office.
Individuals may be required to take an English language test for a number of reasons. It is not limited to student applications.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question 249832 on Educational Testing Service, what the settlement was of the legal action his Department took against ETS.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
I can confirm that a financial settlement was reached with ETS Global BV in early 2018. The terms of this settlement prevent release of further details at this time.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 May 2019 to Question 249830 on Educational Testing Service: Prosecutions, how many test centres the 25 convicted individuals operated.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Criminal investigations in this area have focused on those who played a key role in facilitating this fraud and not solely those who directly operated test centres.
Of the 25 convicted so far, 10 were directly involved in the running of 7 different test centre. The other 15 played key roles such as recruiting students or acting as proxy test takers.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been deported to Sri Lanka from the UK in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) to date in 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The number of enforced returns from the UK by year and country of nationality is published in table rt_02 (returns data tables, volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending December 2018’, available from the GOV.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/781113/returns1-dec-2018-tables.ods
The term 'deportations' refers to a legally-defined subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. Information on those deported is not separately available and therefore the published statistics refer to all enforced returns.
Information for January to March 2019 will be published on 24th May 2019.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions (a) he and (b) officials of his Department have met with representatives from ETS in each year since 2016.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Details of meetings with ETS representatives is not held centrally. Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-ministers-hospitality-data#history
I can, however, confirm that officials met with representatives from ETS Global BV in 2017 to discuss settlement of the legal action the Department had brought against the company. More recently discussions with ETS have focused on the ongoing criminal trials of those believed to have helped organise and facilitate fraudulent activity.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many students have taken the TOEIC English language test since 2016.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
ETS were removed from the list of approved test providers for immigration purposes on 1 July 2014. A current list of tests and test centres approved by UK Visas and Immigration to show that applicants have the required level of English for their visa is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-applying-for-uk-visa-approved-english-language-tests
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employees of ETS have been prosecuted over cases involving TOEIC English Language tests.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
No individuals employed directly by ETS Global BV have been prosecuted. A number of individuals who were involved in the running of test centres have been prosecuted. So far 25 people have been convicted for their role in helping to organise the fraud with convictions of over 70 years handed down to date.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department has spent on (a) internal investigations, (b) court fees and (c) deportation in cases involving TOEIC students since 2016.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The information requested is not held centrally by the Home Office.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications have been made to the EU Settled Status Scheme since its inception on 30 March 30 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The latest figures that are available have been published in two separate reports on both private beta phases:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-1
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-2
Interim statistics on the public beta phase was also referenced in the Written Statement HCWS1387WS1387 of 7 March:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-03-07/HCWS1387/
We will publish further data on the operation of the EU Settlement Scheme in due course.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU citizens have been granted settled status since the full opening of the Settled Status Scheme on 30 March 30 2019.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The latest figures that are available have been published in two separate reports on both private beta phases:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-1
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-private-beta-2
Interim statistics on the public beta phase was also referenced in the Written Statement HCWS1387WS1387 of 7 March:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-03-07/HCWS1387/
We will publish further data on the operation of the EU Settlement Scheme in due course.