English Language Schools

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Thursday 24th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Has the Minister been notified that the hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles) or any other Member wishes to speak?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire)]

Two other hon. Members apart from my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles) have spoken to me. I have indicated that, with your consent, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would be happy for them to speak in the time allowed, if the hon. Member for Bournemouth West (Conor Burns) is also content with that.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire)]

Let me say what a pleasure it is to take part in this debate and to have listened to the excellent contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Conor Burns). Although his maiden speech might have been unconventional in terms of procedure in this House, it was impressive in style, considered in content and impassioned in delivery. He has shown very clearly by his contribution to the debate what an excellent Member of Parliament he will be for his constituents in Bournemouth West. I wish him all success in the House. I have no doubt at all about the contributions that he will make in the months and years ahead.

I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles) for his contribution. He highlighted a particular case, and although it is difficult to draw conclusions from one case alone, we certainly heard what he had to say and I am sure that, if he provides any further details either to me or to my hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration, we will look into those matters. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Mr Syms) and the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) for their contributions. We recognise the importance of language schools and I hope to address some of the points that they raised.

I should also mention that, in a sense, this is my maiden speech as the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup. It is rather unconventional to be speaking from the Dispatch Box in that context, but I am proud to represent Old Bexley and Sidcup and I will do my utmost to fulfil the responsibilities that my constituents have placed on me. Although I may not always be able to speak in this Chamber on the full range of topics on their behalf, I will certainly do my utmost to fulfil my duties and to ensure that any matters of concern to them are properly addressed and dealt with.

Let me say at the outset that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West is aware, the English language schools in his constituency—and in the constituencies of my other hon. Friends in their places this evening—are involved in challenging by judicial review some of the changes identified tonight, particularly the minimum level of language study permitted under tier 4. That case is ongoing and is due to be heard next week, so I hope that my hon. Friend and others will appreciate that I may be somewhat limited in my responses on certain points raised this evening.

The Government are committed to attracting the brightest and the best to the UK, which is why we are determined to encourage legitimate students to come here for study. The UK is the second most popular destination for international students—second only to the United States. We must therefore ensure that our immigration system does not inhibit the education sector, which we recognise has to compete in an increasingly competitive global market.

At the same time, we need to ensure that our overall immigration system works to prevent abuse, so the Government are now taking the necessary steps to set a new direction in immigration policy, built on the coalition’s core values of freedom, fairness and responsibility. We face a number of challenges, however, in delivering a safe and strong border, which are made even more pressing by difficult economic times. Immigration must be properly controlled, so that people can have confidence in the system. Our intention to introduce new measures to minimise abuse of the immigration system, including abuse of the student routes, is a priority that was outlined in the coalition’s programme for government.

I do not ignore the fact that the English language industry contributes millions of pounds to the UK’s economy every year. As my hon. Friend rightly pointed out, English language schools in the UK provide jobs for their staff, while students spend money on fees and books, and generate additional income for their host families. The English language is a global language, and we are, of course, keen to promote the UK as the home of English. We are also acutely aware of the part played by English language schools in preparing overseas students for further and higher education in the UK.

However, in the past there has been significant abuse of the student route, with the previous Government ignoring repeated warnings of the scale of abuse by bogus students and bogus colleges for a number of years. Bogus students were often found applying with forged documentation, not taking up their course of study or dropping out part way through, and working too many hours. The UK Border Agency dealt with bogus colleges that would engage in simple fraud, such as not delivering courses as advertised, if at all, and collaborating with bogus students to facilitate their entry to the UK—in some cases, falsifying education certificates to allow bogus students to prolong their stay in the UK.

Since the launch of the register of education and training providers by the former Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in January 2005, more than 300 bogus colleges have needed to be removed from that register. The introduction of tier 4, the student route of the points-based system, along with sponsor licensing, has gone some way to addressing the problem of bogus colleges. Under the new system, students are tied to their sponsoring institution and must seek our permission to change institution. We do not think that that is inappropriate, as migrants should keep in contact with us and we need to know if they are no longer studying, as they will be in breach of their student conditions.

Although colleges might find it frustrating that the UK Border Agency does not routinely inform them when a student has entered the UK—this point was raised directly—it is simply not practical when we consider the millions of arrivals at our ports and airports each year. Institutions will know when their sponsorship has been used in a visa application and they will know when their student is expected to arrive. If a student does not do so, it is this exception that must be reported to the UK Border Agency and we will then check whether the student is in the UK and in breach of his or her conditions.

The difficulty remains, however, in identifying those bogus students who have no intention of studying in the UK, but simply seek a route of entry. Such so-called students have no qualms about deceiving bona fide education providers to obtain an offer of a place on a course that will go some way to securing their entry to the UK. Such economic migrants tend to target courses that have little in the way of pre-entry requirements, and English language courses have proven to be particularly susceptible to abuse by non-bona fide students. Between April and November 2009, UK Border Agency data show that almost a third of English language schools licensed under tier 4 voluntarily notified UKBA of more than 1,100 students who had failed to enrol or who had dropped out of their course of study.

The tier 4 student visa can be very attractive to economic migrants because of the generous entitlements that such visas rightly provide to those who wish to study here. The ability to work part-time during term time and full-time during vacations, and to bring family members to the UK, are two important privileges that help us to compete with other countries and attract the brightest and the best to study here. However, the Government are committed to ensuring that such privileges are not abused. We must therefore be sure that there are sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that the tier 4 requirements are not so abused.

Data collected since the launch of tier 4 showed a surge in the number of applications made under the route, which was certainly a significant change. That increase, coupled with students who had secured entry under tier 4 but failed to enrol on their courses or ceased their studies early, painted a worrying picture. For that reason, changes were introduced from March. As hon. Members will have heard, the minimum level of language study permitted under tier 4 is level B2 of the common European framework of reference for languages. That means that students must be at least proficient to level B1 before they can use tier 4 and enjoy the entitlements that the route confers. Students whose English language ability is not at that level are still permitted to come to the UK to develop it, using the student visitor route, which allows a person to come to the UK for up to six months.

Without wishing to pre-empt the outcome of next week’s judicial review hearing, the Minister for Immigration intends to undertake a thorough evaluation of the student system in the coming weeks and months, to ensure that the measures currently in place strike the right balance between providing a user-friendly route for bona fide students and education providers and keeping out those who would seek to abuse the student system. Let me be clear: the Government want to encourage genuine students who seek to benefit from our world-class education system and to take away knowledge, skills and a sense of our culture, which they can then put to good use in their home countries.

Question put and agreed to.