Asked by: Baroness Spielman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 22 January (HL13397), whether they will now answer the question put.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
In light of the Baroness Spielman’s further Parliamentary question, the department has reviewed the response and is now able to offer further detail, subject to the constraints of commercial confidentiality during the live procurement process.
The Home Office has conducted comprehensive market engagement to assess the risks and opportunities of remote English language testing, recognising that all delivery models whether paper-based, in-person, or remote carry fraud risks. The new service shall be subject to a rigorous implementation regime of operational, security and technical testing for up 15 months. Once live, the new service shall include robust safeguards including two-stage identity verification, active session monitoring, tamperproof systems, comprehensive audit regimes, mystery shopping, and annual independent audits. Fraud will be monitored through these mechanisms as part of the overall provisions of the Government Model Services Contract that has been tailored and enhanced for these services.
Asked by: Baroness Spielman (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks of switching English testing for visa applicants to an online-only model; how the incidence of fraud will be monitored; and at what level the incidence of fraud would result in a reconsideration of the process.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The current service has been in place in the current form for some years and has not been significantly innovated in terms of developing technology in this space. We know, from our market engagement, that there is opportunity to deliver improvements in this service as well as taking all that is good about current delivery and service. This procurement takes all the elements of current delivery and process and innovation based on new and emerging technology. Every incidence of fraud will be treated swiftly with the upmost seriousness and an appropriate level of consequence for all those involved.