At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, Stephen questioned Home Office Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft about the TOEIC English language testing scandal. It comes a year after the Public Accounts Committee first held a hearing on this matter following a National Audit Office report criticising the Home Office’s response.
Matthew Rycroft, the department’s permanent secretary, said he agreed that the Home Office should have taken a “more vigorous” approach to protecting those wrongly caught up in the process. But when asked by Stephen whether these individuals would have the opportunity to have their cases reviewed, Mr Rycroft said: “The Home Office decided not to set up a set of reviews like that, but as I’ve said there is a legal route open to anyone in that category.”
Stephen commented afterwards: “The English language test scandal is Windrush all over again.
"The permanent secretary appeared to agree with me that there should be a mechanism for innocent students to clear their names. But the only route is through the courts. The costs are immense. Most students who have done it pay £10,000 to £15,000 – and they are not allowed to work.
"I welcome the Home Secretary’s commitment to implement all of the Windrush Lessons Learned recommendations. But the lessons are being ignored in handling the language testing scandal. As in Windrush, there is a complete failure to engage beyond individual cases.
"Learning the lessons from Windrush would mean creating a mechanism for innocent students to clear their names.”