Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what levels of funding have been provided to Fair4All Finance and what governance structures are in place for monitoring the spending of this funding.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
To date, £277.5 million of dormant assets funding has been allocated to Fair4All Finance to deliver financial inclusion initiatives. This includes £132.5 million allocated under the 2025 Dormant Assets Strategy. This funding will support financially excluded and under-served consumers to access affordable and useful products and services; as well as help build financial capability so that more people can manage their money well.
Fair4All Finance is overseen by the Oversight Trust, which acts as a governing parent to ensure funds are spent in line with the organisation's mission. Additionally, HM Treasury also maintains consistent engagement with Fair4All Finance to monitor progress and ensure delivery against its financial inclusion objectives.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of the Net Migrant figure was accounted for by international students in each year over the last 5 years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the lady’s Parliamentary Question of 20th May is attached.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what funding from the UK Government has been provided for the transition from conflict to peace in Colombia in the years 2018-2022 and 2022-2026 as part of the 2016 peace agreement.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has been a leading international advocate of Colombia's peace process. Since 2016, the UK has committed over £80 million to support the implementation of the agreement and we are one of the largest UN Trust Fund donors. The Hon Member can find details of all programmes supported in Colombia on the GOV.UK Development Tracker (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/).
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms exist for universities to challenge or seek clarification where refusal of student visas appear to result from a misunderstanding of course structure or progression pathways.
Answered by Mike Tapp
My response to your previous question of PQ 3544 confirmed that changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) policy were first announced on 23 May 2024.
Since then, I have continued to engage regularly with the education sector on the BCA policy and what will be expected of them. That has provided the sector with over two years to prepare for the changes.
It has been a long-standing principle that education institutions wanting to recruit international students must demonstrate a strong record of immigration compliance, and education providers responsible for offering places to these students must treat their roles as recruiting sponsors with the diligence and seriousness that those roles demand.
Student visa applications are considered on their individual merits, in line with the Immigration Rules and published guidance. Caseworkers must be satisfied that an applicant meets the requirements of the Student route, including the genuine student requirement and, where applicable, academic progression requirements set out in Appendix Student.
All immigration routes are kept under regular review, including trends in student visa refusals to ensure the integrity of the immigration system is maintained. Refusal rates are monitored at an aggregated level as part of wider operational and compliance activity.
UKVI provides structured training to caseworkers, supported by a quality assurance framework and operational oversight processes to ensure decisions are made consistently and in line with the Immigration Rules and guidance. The Administrative Review process provides a mechanism for applicants to challenge a refusal.
UKVI also maintains ongoing engagement with the education sector, including through dedicated support routes to assist sponsors in understanding decision making, raising queries, and seeking clarification on how the rules and guidance are applied.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training and quality assurance processes are in place for staff assessing student visa applications where refusals are made on grounds of course credibility or academic progression.
Answered by Mike Tapp
My response to your previous question of PQ 3544 confirmed that changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) policy were first announced on 23 May 2024.
Since then, I have continued to engage regularly with the education sector on the BCA policy and what will be expected of them. That has provided the sector with over two years to prepare for the changes.
It has been a long-standing principle that education institutions wanting to recruit international students must demonstrate a strong record of immigration compliance, and education providers responsible for offering places to these students must treat their roles as recruiting sponsors with the diligence and seriousness that those roles demand.
Student visa applications are considered on their individual merits, in line with the Immigration Rules and published guidance. Caseworkers must be satisfied that an applicant meets the requirements of the Student route, including the genuine student requirement and, where applicable, academic progression requirements set out in Appendix Student.
All immigration routes are kept under regular review, including trends in student visa refusals to ensure the integrity of the immigration system is maintained. Refusal rates are monitored at an aggregated level as part of wider operational and compliance activity.
UKVI provides structured training to caseworkers, supported by a quality assurance framework and operational oversight processes to ensure decisions are made consistently and in line with the Immigration Rules and guidance. The Administrative Review process provides a mechanism for applicants to challenge a refusal.
UKVI also maintains ongoing engagement with the education sector, including through dedicated support routes to assist sponsors in understanding decision making, raising queries, and seeking clarification on how the rules and guidance are applied.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department monitors refusal rates for student visa's linked to the grounds of course credibility or academic progression.
Answered by Mike Tapp
My response to your previous question of PQ 3544 confirmed that changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) policy were first announced on 23 May 2024.
Since then, I have continued to engage regularly with the education sector on the BCA policy and what will be expected of them. That has provided the sector with over two years to prepare for the changes.
It has been a long-standing principle that education institutions wanting to recruit international students must demonstrate a strong record of immigration compliance, and education providers responsible for offering places to these students must treat their roles as recruiting sponsors with the diligence and seriousness that those roles demand.
Student visa applications are considered on their individual merits, in line with the Immigration Rules and published guidance. Caseworkers must be satisfied that an applicant meets the requirements of the Student route, including the genuine student requirement and, where applicable, academic progression requirements set out in Appendix Student.
All immigration routes are kept under regular review, including trends in student visa refusals to ensure the integrity of the immigration system is maintained. Refusal rates are monitored at an aggregated level as part of wider operational and compliance activity.
UKVI provides structured training to caseworkers, supported by a quality assurance framework and operational oversight processes to ensure decisions are made consistently and in line with the Immigration Rules and guidance. The Administrative Review process provides a mechanism for applicants to challenge a refusal.
UKVI also maintains ongoing engagement with the education sector, including through dedicated support routes to assist sponsors in understanding decision making, raising queries, and seeking clarification on how the rules and guidance are applied.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what evaluation her Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation timeframe for the Basic Compliance Assessment.
Answered by Mike Tapp
My response to your previous question of PQ 3544 confirmed that changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) policy were first announced on 23 May 2024.
Since then, I have continued to engage regularly with the education sector on the BCA policy and what will be expected of them. That has provided the sector with over two years to prepare for the changes.
It has been a long-standing principle that education institutions wanting to recruit international students must demonstrate a strong record of immigration compliance, and education providers responsible for offering places to these students must treat their roles as recruiting sponsors with the diligence and seriousness that those roles demand.
Student visa applications are considered on their individual merits, in line with the Immigration Rules and published guidance. Caseworkers must be satisfied that an applicant meets the requirements of the Student route, including the genuine student requirement and, where applicable, academic progression requirements set out in Appendix Student.
All immigration routes are kept under regular review, including trends in student visa refusals to ensure the integrity of the immigration system is maintained. Refusal rates are monitored at an aggregated level as part of wider operational and compliance activity.
UKVI provides structured training to caseworkers, supported by a quality assurance framework and operational oversight processes to ensure decisions are made consistently and in line with the Immigration Rules and guidance. The Administrative Review process provides a mechanism for applicants to challenge a refusal.
UKVI also maintains ongoing engagement with the education sector, including through dedicated support routes to assist sponsors in understanding decision making, raising queries, and seeking clarification on how the rules and guidance are applied.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on its assessments of the appropriateness of registrants with criminal convictions to practice as registered nurses and midwives in the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC is independent of the Government, is directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government.
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the bodies that regulate health and care professionals in the UK, which includes the NMC. As Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), I monitor the NMC’s performance and both I and departmental officials meet with the organisation regularly.
Nurses, midwives, and nursing associates are required to declare cautions or convictions as part of their application to join the NMC register. The NMC Code requires registrants to inform the NMC and their employer if they receive a caution or conviction while on the register. If a registrant receives a caution or conviction while on the NMC register, it is considered through the NMC’s fitness to practise processes to determine whether any regulatory action is required.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what notice was provided to licensed student sponsors of changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment metrics.
Answered by Mike Tapp
The Home Office engages regularly with the education sector on the development and implementation of changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) policy and has provided the sector with advance notice of these.
Strengthened compliance expectations for Student sponsors, including tighter approach to metrics underpinning the BCA, were first set out in the previous Government’s announcement on 23 May 2024.
These reforms were subsequently re-affirmed by the current Government in the then Home Secretary’s statement on 24 July 2024.
The new metrics were introduced in the Immigration White Paper in May 2025.
Student sponsor guidance is routinely updated to reflect changes, and sponsors are expected to keep up to date with guidance published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Katrina Murray (Labour - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that visa decision making remains robust while maintaining the UK’s international competitiveness in higher education.
Answered by Mike Tapp
UKVI has a comprehensive training programme that is kept under regular review to support consistently high standards of decisions. This is supported by a quality assurance framework that draws on feedback from the study sector and incorporates evidence from the independent Administrative Review process, ensuring that lessons learned are systematically embedded into operational practice.
The Government continues to support the UK’s world-leading higher education sector, working closely with education providers and sector bodies to ensure that processes remain efficient and proportionate. Our approach ensures that the Student route continues to attract genuine students, reinforcing the UK’s position as a leading international study destination.