Written question asked by Gordon Prentice (Labour) on Monday, 10 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 October 2005. It was answered by Jack Straw (Labour) on Wednesday, 19 October 2005 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Ambassadors/High Commissioners

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many ambassadors and high commissioners do not have a good working knowledge of the primary language of the country to which they are posted; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Save in posts where the primary language is English, all ambassadors and high commissioners are given language training before taking up their posts, usually to refresh existing language skills, to enable them to carry out essential business and representational work. We assess that at least 94 per cent. of them have a good knowledge of the working or at least one of the common working languages of the country to which they are posted. Many of our heads of mission in posts where hard languages are spoken will have qualifications to extensive level from their previous postings to those countries.

Secondary information