Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department will extend English language testing requirements to foreign nationals working in (a) private security or (b) enforcement roles contracted by the Department.

The Private Security Industry Act (PSIA) 2001 created the Security Industry Authority (SIA) as the regulator of the private security industry.

The SIA sets minimum training standards and issues licenses to applicants who have acquired the correct licence-linked qualifications. Before a learner can take a licence-linked qualification, they must prove they have English language skills to B2 standard on the Home Office list of recommended qualifications. This standard means that the learner has a degree of fluency in English. The SIA reviews training standards every five years to ensure that individuals seeking to work in regulated roles meet refreshed minimum standards, and that skills keep pace with emerging threats to public safety.

Where overseas nationals fill enforcement roles contracted by the Home Office, they require an immigration permission to do so, and they may be subject to English language requirements mandated by the Immigration Rules. For the Skilled Worker immigration route, the required level of English is being increased from B1 to B2 level (effective from 8 January 2026).