Written question asked by Rob Marris (Labour) on Wednesday, 6 June 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 27 June 2007. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Wednesday, 27 June 2007 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Departments: Languages

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the quality of the language teaching available from outside providers compared with that available from the in-house staff in her Department.

Answer: We do not believe that quality of training will be affected. Language teaching suppliers will have performance targets built into their contracts. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Services Review of Language training, which looked at the examination performance of trainees taught by agency-supplied teachers, concluded that examination performance is not automatically enhanced by having full time teachers. 40 per cent. of FCO priority language training is already outsourced.

Secondary information