Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, for bringing this Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules on to the Floor of the House. The issues that he raises are very significant and we are in agreement on most of them. Immigration is a very controversial and sensitive topic and we must get the balance right. Running incomplete statutory instruments through this House, which is essentially what we have before us today—with an impact assessment delivered approximately two hours before this debate, and without full consultation responses—is unacceptable, especially in the knowledge that there have been voices of concern in the education sector about the rules this statement will change. Furthermore, the Merits Committee rightly points out in its 11th report that it feels, ""unable to take an informed view of the policy development processes behind this statement"." I have the same reservations from these Benches. As we all know, the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules is being made to tighten up border controls through tier 4, which include but are not limited to implementing a new restriction on the amount of work that can be carried out by students below degree level, and further restrictions on family members of some students. A linked change is to be made in guidance, although not included in this statement, which will require all students below degree level to demonstrate an existing level of English language at just below GCSE standard. The aim of the review by the Merits Committee was to assess whether the suggested policy changes to tier 4 strike the right balance between facilitating the access of genuine students to education in the UK and preventing abuse by economic migrants. As already stated, the committee could not reach a conclusion, and I am in agreement with the stance that it was forced to take. I do not support the approach that the Government took in the first instance in regard to the handling of student visa immigration loopholes, and I do not believe that this statement will make the situation any better. The student visa system has been the biggest hole in our border controls for a decade under this Government, and the Government still seem to be stumbling around trying desperately to mend their mistakes. We on these Benches are fully aware of the scale of the serious problem involving the abuse of student visas for immigration purposes, while understanding the need to encourage and welcome the brightest and best students to come to the UK to study. We need those who can contribute to the revitalisation of our knowledge-based economy. However, the Government's immigration policies have failed time and again to address the real problems, while the new English language requirement threatens the existence of hundreds of legitimate businesses. This is the point that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has made well. The results of this review include increasing the minimum English-language requirement. This has serious consequences for genuine language schools. If the Government were to adopt this change it could in effect close every language school across the country. The English language industry is worth £1.5 billion annually in foreign earnings to the UK economy. We should be encouraging legitimate foreign students to come here to learn English, and the Government should not make blanket, knee-jerk regulations that could seriously damage that industry. A number of bodies have voiced their concerns. English UK and Study UK, for example, are unhappy about raising the bar for English language students. They are concerned that publicly funded bodies are likely to have HTS status by default while their private sector colleagues will have to apply, with all the time and expense that that involves. The committee is also aware that the Independent Schools Council—the ISC—believes that the changes may have a number of unintended effects for independent schools, stemming from the lack of a clear distinction in tier 4 between adult students and school pupils. The ISC is pursuing its concerns with the UK Border Agency. As we have not had time to assess the impact assessment or full consultation responses, none of these concerns has been addressed, and detailed information simply has not been provided even to those who are expected to implement the changes and will have to deal with the consequences. I ask the Minister to explain the Government's justification for withholding this information and how they are addressing the types of concerns that the likes of English UK, Study UK and the ISC have. As the committee reported, the Explanatory Memorandum says that an impact assessment of all the changes stemming from the tier 4 review was to be published on the UKBA website in March 2010. That is a point that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has made; and in fact, as we know, it has just appeared, as he said, coincidentally today. In response to questioning from the committee, the UKBA said that the impact assessment was being prepared and would be published when the changes took effect. That has just happened. I agree that the committee would like replies to its questions about the correctness of completing an impact assessment after an instrument has been laid, let alone after it has come into effect, which was a point well made by the noble Lord. We do not believe that the UKBA has followed the Government's policy on the use of IAs in this respect and would like the Government to explain their thoughts and how they plan to rectify the situation, if indeed they intend to do so at all. Further information submitted to the committee by the UKBA states that 17 sector-representative organisations submitted written evidence to the review of tier 4, and over 300 representations were received from individuals and individual education providers and related businesses. Meetings were also held with key representative bodies. However, the UKBA says that it is not planning to publish an analysis of consultation responses. We would welcome the Minister’s comments on that point. We have long called on the Government to crack down on bogus colleges and students. However, their new proposals fail to address the real problem. I am sorry to say that I consider this to be yet another quick fix, an ill thought-out policy direction that will do more damage than good in the long run. What is needed is: a proper clampdown on bogus colleges; allowing only institutions that are officially registered to sponsor students; an end to in-country switching between student and work visas; making it a priority for the newly formed national border police, which my party has in mind, to crack down on suspected bogus colleges; and strictly enforcing regulations on illegal working. Abuse of the student visa system is not fair on genuine students or on British taxpayers, and it has created a security loophole that must be closed.