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From
House of Commons Hansard 5th July 2005
Mr. Khan
: My understanding is
that one reason for the success of appeals in student cases
is that additional information is provided on appeal, which
leads to the initial decision being overturned. However, the
universities have expressed a concern about whether, if the
same person decides on the prospective student's fresh
application, there will be prejudice against that student
given the black mark against his or her name.
Mr. Clarke:
I do not believe that
such prejudice will exist, but the working party, to which I
referred earlier, to establish the discussion between
universities and the Home Office on those matters will deal
with those specific points. Let me add another serious
point, which relates to my hon. Friend's remarks. It is
important that people who want to study here apply to come
here in a timely way. There are tricky issues about late
applications and the way in which they are tackled that
relate to his point about information. I hope that we can
reach a state of affairs whereby those decisions are taken
properly.
Mr. Sadiq Khan
(Tooting) (Lab):
Does my right hon. Friend agree that not only is there a
problem with the quality of some of the decisions taken by
entry clearance officers, but that some of the problems stem
from the subjective tests applied? We need to ensure
transparency and accountability in the decision making.
Mr. Clarke:
My hon. Friend puts his
point clearly. One of the problems with the whole system has
been a lack of transparency and clarity, both for the
country as a whole and for the individuals who go through
the system. It is important to establish a much clearer
system. That is one of the reasons for the points system
that we propose for people who come to the UK to work and to
study, which will attempt to be much clearer, in the way
that my hon. Friend described, for people who are thinking
of coming to the country so that they can be better dealt
with. My hon. Friend is right about the importance of a
clear, transparent system. That is the thrust of the
five-year strategy.
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