Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential (1) risks, and (2) benefits, of adopting an entirely remote delivery model for the proposed Home Office English Language Testing service.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has carefully considered both the risks and benefits of an entirely 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. Following rounds of pre-market engagement, the ongoing 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.

The expected benefits include improved accessibility and customer service by removing physical barriers for applicants, stronger protections against fraud through enhanced security measures, and better value for money for applicants and the taxpayer.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to ensuring that NHS collective insurance cover can be extended to provide cover for when clinical services are commissioned by local authorities.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

When local authorities commission clinical services through the National Health Service, any liability arising from clinical negligence is covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), where the service is provided by an NHS trust, and the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP), where the service is delivered by general practices under NHS contracts, namely the Personal Medical Services contract, the Additional Medical Services contract, and/or the General Medical Services contract. CNST and CNSGP are state indemnity schemes administered by NHS Resolution.

There are currently no plans to extend the scope of CNST or CNSGP to cover other clinical services commissioned by local authorities.