Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Brett): I welcome, from the Department for the Economy, Annette Palmer, director of the tertiary education division, and Louise Stevenson, deputy head of the vocational qualification reform branch. You are very welcome, and I hand over to you.

Ms Annette Palmer (Department for the Economy): Thank you very much. We are here today to give an oral briefing on the paper that the Committee has received on the UK ENIC. The UK ENIC is the UK European National Information Centre for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills. The UK ENIC service provides the only UK Government-approved assessment of and statements of comparability between overseas qualifications and UK qualifications. The statements can be requested as part of visa applications, and, having that close link to immigration, the UK ENIC service has been considered to be reserved and has operated on a UK-wide basis.

The service was recently re-procured, and, as part of the procurement process, the Department for Education in England identified that certain charges relating to the recognition of qualifications obtained overseas may have been levied without statutory authority. The view was taken that, while statutory authority might not be strictly necessary, it was prudent to establish a clear legal basis for the charges to avoid any ambiguity, with the preferable course of action being to place the fees on a statutory footing. The clause dealing with the validation of fees in the legislative consent motion (LCM) and the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill aims to address that issue.

To mitigate any legal risk, Law Officers' consent was granted for retrospective legislation in respect of historical charges. The extension of that legislation to the devolved nations seeks to ensure that statutory cover is provided for the previous fees charged. The provision will remove the possibility of service users requesting a refund for fees paid for services, the benefits of which they have fairly received. During the drafting of the Bill, officials in England were also asked to consider the devolution position of the UK ENIC service, which, in turn, contacted us. Having taken legal advice, the devolved nations have all agreed that UK ENIC should, in part, be considered transferred as it clearly relates to education, and, therefore, legislative consent is required. Wales and Scotland have also laid legislative consent motions.

It was agreed that, in the best interest of service users, the service itself should continue to be managed centrally by the Department for Education in England, with the devolved nations having a stronger role in the oversight and management of the service going forward. There has been no disruption or change in service provision to users throughout the process.

Unfortunately, given the fact that the issue arose unexpectedly and the pace of the Bill's passage at Westminster, we have had to work extremely quickly to progress, and we apologise that the Committee has received the briefing later than we intended. We are happy to take any questions.

The Chairperson (Mr Brett): Listen, that was not your issue; thank you very much for coming to the Committee.

I just want to check that service users in Northern Ireland who previously received the service did not pay for it.

Ms Palmer: No. The Department for the Economy pays for access to the UK ENIC databases for the purposes of education and employment, not for immigration or visa purposes. For example, our careers advisers use the service to access the database and provide information to clients with international qualifications. Educational institutions such as universities and further education colleges can also use the service. Individuals can, if they wish, go direct to the service and pay, I think, £60 —.

Ms Louise Stevenson (Department for the Economy): It is £60·90 for an individual who applies to use the service for the purpose of a visa application. In the Careers Service — the Department — we pay a fee to use the database, but that is not transferred to service users.

The Chairperson (Mr Brett): How much does the Department pay?

Ms Palmer: Institutions pay between £1,000 and £5,000 a year, depending on the number of users, to access the database for qualification comparison. The information about our specific financial contribution may be considered commercially sensitive, so I will need to check that. UK ENIC is delivered by Ecctis Ltd, a private company that is contracted by the Department for Education in England. Commercial contracts between Departments and private providers often include clauses to protect pricing in procurement processes, but I can check whether we are able to answer that. It is between £1,000 and £5,000.

The Chairperson (Mr Brett): No problem. Thank you very much for that. Do colleagues have any questions?

Mr Buckley: I will briefly follow on from the Chair's point. You say that institutions — that is plural — typically pay between £1,000 and £5,000, so the Department for the Economy, obviously, and other institutions such as universities all pay a fee.

Ms Palmer: They may also pay a fee. We have a contract to use the service because we use it for our careers advisers, but individual institutions can have their own contractor licence with the provider.

Mr Buckley: OK. When the LCMs were going through in Scotland and Wales, was any issue in particular teased out? Has that happened yet?

Ms Palmer: Yes. The Wales and Scotland LCMs have been laid. I cannot remember the exact dates.

Ms Stevenson: They were laid in those jurisdictions in February and March.

Ms Palmer: No issues.

Ms Stevenson: There were no issues.

Mr Buckley: They felt that retaining a UK-wide system was OK.

Ms Palmer: We would like to have a bit more oversight of and input into the processes.

Mr Buckley: Thank you.

The Chairperson (Mr Brett): Does anyone have anything else? No. Colleagues, thank you very much indeed. We appreciate your quick reaction on this one, so thank you for your time.

Ms Palmer: Thank you.

Ms Stevenson: Thank you for your time.