Dear Rupesh Patel,

Thank you for your enquiries of 13 February and 28 February in which you requested information about colleges where their Tier 4 sponsor licence has been revoked or suspended. You also requested information about the steps taken by the UK Border Agency to protect overseas students whose sponsor's licence has been revoked. I am sorry for the delay in our response.

This has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please see the requested information below.

1. Tier 4 Sponsors revoked or suspended from the start of the scheme, in November 2008, to 3 March 2010.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 5

2. The UK Border Agency website links below detail the steps we take to protect overseas students whose sponsor's licence has been revoked.

The register of sponsors lists all organisations licensed by the UK Border Agency to employ migrant workers or sponsor migrant students. To be added to the register of sponsors, an organisation must meet certain criteria and be successfully awarded a sponsor licence with a sponsor rating - this will be an 'A rating' or a 'B rating', and will be listed on the register. These criteria ensure that those working or studying in the UK do so legally.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/registerofsponsors/

The `Guidance for sponsor applications - Tier 4' provides information on `What happens to our sponsored students when our organisation's licence is withdrawn?' Tier 4 Sponsor Guidance page 56 - section 355-359.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors/pbsguidance/

The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information. The figures are therefore provisional and subject to change.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of UK Border Agency sending a substantive reply to your original request and should be addressed to:

Information Access Policy Team

(Freedom of Information Team)

11th floor (short corridor)

Lunar House

40 Wellesley Road

Croydon

CR9 2BY

During the independent review the Department's handling of your information request will be assessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely,

S Birkinshaw

Freedom of Information Team

North East, Yorkshire and the Humber Region

UK Border Agency