Colleges whose Tier 4 sponsor licence (a) revoked and (b) suspended

Dear Rupert Patel,

Please see the attached response to your recent FOI request.

<<1131 Response22.3.10.doc>>
Kind regards

Sandra
Sandra Birkinshaw
Freedom of Information Team
North East, Yorkshire & the Humber Region
UK Border Agency
Level 4, Vulcan House (Steel), PO Box 3468, Sheffield, S3 8WA

Tel: 0114 2072120
Fax: 0114 2072906

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Dear Rupert Patel,

I am sorry that you were not entirely satisfied with our response to FOI
request 14043/1131. Please note that we are currently reconsidering your
request and our response and will be in touch shortly.

Kind regards

Sandra
Sandra Birkinshaw
Freedom of Information Team
North East, Yorkshire & the Humber Region
UK Border Agency

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Dear Rupesh,

Thank you for your enquiry of 24 March.

In answer to your query, I can confirm that we do not publish details of colleges whose Tier 4 sponsor license has been revoked or suspended.

We do not believe it is appropriate to publish a list of suspended colleges. Suspension is a temporary measure and is sometimes used to allow time for investigations to take place.  In some cases, these investigations lead to the complete exoneration of the sponsor concerned.  It would therefore be inappropriate to highlight this temporary status in such a public way as it would place that institution at a disadvantage commercially.

As outlined in my response of 22 March, we publish a list of registered sponsors. 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/employ...

I hope this is of help to you.

Kind Regards

Daniela Walker
Freedom of Information Team
North East, Yorkshire & Humber Region
UK Border Agency
PO Box 3468
Sheffield S3 8WA

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<<RE: Freedom of Information Request Number 14043/1131>>
Dear Rupesh,

Thank you for your emails of 31 March and 17 April. I am sorry for the
delay in my response. Your enquiry has been dealt with routinely,
outside of the Freedom of Information Act.

In answer to your query of 31 March, and as previously outlined, I can
confirm that we do not publish details of colleges whose Tier 4 sponsor
license has been revoked or suspended. This includes names of colleges.

As mentioned previously, we publish a list of registered sponsors. 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/employ...
<http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employ...>

Although you are in your right to request this information under the
Freedom of Information Act, please note that we are likely to exempt
this information under the Act

I hope this has answered your query.

Kind Regards

Daniela Walker
Freedom of Information Team
North East, Yorkshire & Humber Region
UK Border Agency
PO Box 3468
Sheffield S3 8WA

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Dear Rupesh Patel,

As explained in our latest correspondence your request was not treated
under the Freedom of Information Act and therefore you cannot request an
internal review.

However, whilst our response made it clear that your request was not
treated under the Act we explained that it was open to you to make a
request for the information under the Act. Therefore, you may consider
making a request under the Act.

Yours sincerely,
Freedom of information team

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