Written question asked by Lord Boswell of Aynho (Conservative) on Monday, 8 June 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 June 2009. It was answered by Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour) on Monday, 20 July 2009 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Civil Service: Languages

Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information the Cabinet Office collates on the competences of domestic civil servants in modern foreign languages; and what steps she is taking to improve such competence levels.

Answer: I have been asked to reply.Information on the competencies of domestic civil servants in modern foreign languages is not held centrally. Departments may hold this information where it is relevant to the post.The UK Inter-Departmental Standing Committee on Languages (UKIDSCOL), a cross-governmental languages group has identified a lack of higher education provision in certain languages operationally important (notably Pashtu, Farsi, Dari, Kurdish and Somali). In response, UKIDSCOL recently began working with Government Skills (the skills council for central government) to encourage the higher education sector to provide teaching in these languages. Progress on this work is expected by the end of the year.

Secondary information