Written question asked by Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 29 June 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 1 July 2009. It was answered by Michael John Foster (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Departmental Manpower

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many members of his Department's staff deployed in each region of Iraq (a) have been trained in each year since 2001 and (b) are being trained in each local Iraqi language.

Answer: Records of language training carried out since 2001 have not been retained. Currently two Department for International Development (DFID) officials in Baghdad are taking part-time Arabic language classes.There are also three Arabic-speaking Iraqi nationals working for DFID in Baghdad. In Basra, DFID employs two Arabic-speaking Iraqi nationals, and one further is being recruited.DFID has employed over 40 Arabic-speaking Iraqi nationals in Iraq since 2001.

Secondary information