Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many non-UK citizens are employed by his Department.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly; all staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other Government bodies, who remain the employers.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the inclusion of Scottish universities in the post-study work visa pilot.
Answered by David Mundell
I meet my Rt hon Friend the Home Secretary regularly and we discuss a wide range of issues.
The Tier 4 visa pilot is part of the Home Office’s continued efforts to ensure that the UK maintains an excellent offer to attract the brightest and best to study at our world-leading institutions. Its main aim is to help simplify the visa application process for international students looking to study on a Masters’ course, in the UK, of 13 months or less. It will also help to support students who wish to switch into a work route and take up a graduate role by extending the leave period following the end of their study to up to six months. The pilot does not make any changes to the Tier 2 visa route and is not a return to the post-study work visa route, which we closed in April 2012 due to high levels of abuse.
The institutions taking part in the pilot were chosen due to their consistently low level of visa refusals. It is a fundamental requirement of Tier 4 that education institutions who recruit international students take responsibility for them. This means the institution must ensure the student is genuine and meets the requirements of the Immigration Rules, before assigning them a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), as well as ensuring that the student leaves the UK at the end of his or her studies.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what progress the Government has made on implementing the recommendations of the Wilson Review of Support for Scottish Exporting; and what plans he has to designate (a) the Scotch whisky industry and (b) other sectors with experience and success in export markets as free trade champions.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office created and chairs the Scottish Exporting Joint Working Group. This consists of officials from UKTI, SDI and Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government. The Group last met on the 5 October where they discussed a draft Action Plan that contains practical steps to achieve greater collaboration, co-operation and alignment between the organisations serving Scottish exporters, in line with the recommendations of the Wilson Review. The Action Plan will be agreed over the coming weeks.
The Government has no immediate plans to designate the Scotch whisky industry or other sectors in Scotland as free trade champions. However, we are working very closely with the Scotch Whisky Association to learn from their expertise on trade issues with a view to replicating the extraordinary success the Scotch Whisky industry has had in export markets across the wider UK food and drink sector.