Written question asked by Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 18 April 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 20 April 2007. It was answered by Lord Reid of Cardowan (Labour) on Monday, 25 June 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

British Nationality: Assessments

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 12 April 2007, Question 130039, on the Life in the UK test, what the average test results were of (a) the British citizens participating in the test pilot and (b) the pilot group as a whole.

Answer: The Department used an independent contractor, Ufi, to conduct the pilot tests. Ufi have indicated that in respect of the pilot group as a whole, 73 per cent. of the 245 candidates who completed pilot tests achieved a pass.In seeking to establish the information requested on the average test results for British citizens, I can also provide further clarification to the hon. Gentleman about the figure of 25 per cent. given for British citizens participating in the pilot test given in my previous answer of 16 April 2007, Official Report, column 470W. This figure of 25 per cent. referred to a benchmark figure of how many native speakers of English (of which British Citizens could be included) the Department asked Ufi to take part in the pilot scheme and not the nationality of participants.Although the information collected cannot be broken down by nationality, this does not affect the usefulness of the pilot to developing the test proper. The test is not designed to compare whether citizens and non-citizens are achieving similar results and nor was the pilot conducted in that spirit.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 133330; 462 c289-90W
Session: 2006-07
Related items: British Nationality: Assessments
Monday, 25 June 2007
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Assessments British nationality
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk