Smith to unveil airport ID scheme
Workers at two airports will be used to test UK national identity card,
the government is expected to announce.
The Home Office's delivery plan for the ID cards said they would be
issued to airside workers at all the country's airports from the second
half of 2009.
However, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is set to unveil an 18-month pilot
at just London City and Manchester airports.
Airport unions have been resisting the scheme, saying workers would have
to pay £30 for a card to do their jobs.
However, it is understood that the cards would be issued free during the
evaluation period.
Voluntary system
The Unite union, which represents airport workers, has said staff are
already extensively vetted before being given airside passes.
BBC News home affairs correspondent Rory MacLean says the home
secretary's announcement would appear to be a step back from the
original plan to require all airport workers to have the cards from next
year.
The Home Office published its National Identity Scheme Delivery Plan on
6 March this year.
It said: "The first ID cards will be issued to people working in
specific sensitive roles or locations where verification of identity
will enhance the protection of the public.
"This will start in the second half of 2009, with the issuing of
identity cards to those working airside in the country's airports."
Non-EU students and marriage visa holders will be the first to receive
the ID cards this month, followed by airport workers and from 2010 a
voluntary system for other people will come into effect.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.
Published: 2008/11/06 00:52:29 GMT
Wall Street shares plummeted on Wednesday, the day after the US
presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 496.3 points, or 5.2%, to end the
day at 9,129.
The falls wiped out the gains from the election day surge on Tuesday,
when the Dow Jones closed up 3.3%.
Shares fell as weak economic data highlighted the challenges that will
face the new administration when it takes over in January.
Economic worries
Among the figures was a report showing that the US services sector had
contracted sharply in October.
The Institute for Supply Management's service sector index fell to 44.4
in October from 50.2 in September, which is its worst reading since
1982.
There was also a report from ADP Employer Services showing that private
employers made their biggest job cuts for six years last month, which
made traders nervous ahead of Friday's monthly unemployment figures.
With all the worries about the economy, there is also some nervousness
about whom President-elect Barack Obama will choose as his treasury
secretary.
The fallers were led by financial institutions, with Citigroup and AIG
both down 14% and Bank of America falling 10%.
The recent volatility has been partly blamed on the light volumes of
trading, which have exaggerated the movements in share prices.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.
Published: 2008/11/05 22:00:53 GMT
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter
Fingerprinting of overseas students will begin this month - and
university chiefs are warning that it needs to be a simple and efficient
process.
Under tougher immigration rules designed to tackle bogus colleges,
overseas students coming to the UK will need biometric identity cards.
The first students having to give fingerprints will be those applying
for visa extensions from 25 November.
The government says overseas students pay tuition fees worth £2.5bn per
year.
The Home Office's tightening of border controls, set out earlier this
year, will include the requirement that "we check and record the
fingerprints of any applicants applying for a student visa".
"All students allowed to come here will need to obtain a biometric
identity card, so we know exactly who they are and what they are
entitled to do."
Biometric record
Overseas students - classified as those from outside the European Union
- have become an important source of income for universities,
particularly as they pay higher fees than UK students.
The university watchdog, the Quality Assurance Agency, said earlier this
year that some universities were now financially dependent on overseas
students.
So there will be concerns that the introduction of tighter immigration
controls, including compulsory fingerprinting, might deter potential
applicants.
The higher education representative body, Universities UK, has warned
that there are only six centres around the UK where biometric
information can be collected - which will mean long journeys for some
students.
There are also concerns about queuing times - and an absence of any way
of booking an appointment.
Bogus colleges
"Despite repeated requests for information on whether there will be a
booking process we have not so far received this information,
Universities UK chief executive Diana Warwick.
The changing rules for overseas students are part of a "clamp down on
bogus students", announced by the Home Office, which will see colleges
having to hold a licence from the UK Border Agency.
There have been widespread concerns that bogus colleges have been
providing a means of falsely entering the country - allowing people to
claim student visas without really studying for any qualifications.
Almost 300 bogus colleges have been uncovered in the past three years.
From next March, overseas students will need to be sponsored by a
college or university holding a licence from the UK Border Agency.
From next autumn, there will be a further tightening of the rules, in
which universities and colleges will use a "sponsor management system"
to inform the UK Border Agency if students are failing to attend
courses.
"This new route for students will ensure we know exactly who is coming
here to study and stamp out bogus colleges which facilitate the
lawbreakers,
But he also notes that "international students contribute £2.5bn to the
UK economy in tuition fees alone" - and the Home Office notes another
estimate that overseas students are worth £8.5bn to the wider economy.
Baroness Warwick says that universities recognise that students cannot
be exempt from immigration policy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2008/11/06 00:30:10 GMT
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