In an overloaded institution like the home office, good initiatives sometimes get forgotten. I was reminded of this when the story broke recently that five illegal immigrants were working for the immigration and nationality directorate. A year or two ago I often worked late in the home office in Whitehall before catching the sleeper back to Edinburgh. As I am a friendly sort of fellow, I would try to chat to the cleaners. But none of them could speak English. (They were, however, almost certainly legal. Back then, before citizens of the new EU states were free to work here, it was easy to get work permits to import unskilled workers.)
One reason I was working late at the home office was because I was chairman of an advisory group which produced a report three years ago entitled “The New and the Old,” which recommended new regulations for naturalisation and citizenship. Almost all were accepted and implemented—including citizenship ceremonies and language tests. The one recommendation not accepted was on the funding of language lessons.
There is an established grading of English-language ability called ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) and we recommended that progress from any ESOL grade to the next one up would qualify a migrant for citizenship (plus the old five years’ residence with no criminal record). At the lower grades, there is no such thing as a separate citizenship test, but the content of language classes and tests includes useful knowledge about British customs and institutions that should help people to integrate. Alternatively, if applicants believe they are at something called ESOL Entry Level 3, they can take a citizenship test. (Level 3 is the ability to hold a comprehensible conversation on an unexpected topic, but does not require a high level of precision—its aim is to help people get by at work.)
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