Written question asked by Jimmy Wray (Labour) on Thursday, 12 December 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 December 2002. It was answered by David Miliband (Labour) on Thursday, 19 December 2002 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many primary schools in the UK teach languages; how many secondary schools do not teach languages; which languages are taught in schools; what proposals he has to increase the range of languages available; what teaching there is in schools on non-European languages; and if he will make a statement. - Inc figure.

Answer: Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many primary schools in the UK teach languages; how many secondary schools do not teach languages; which languages are taught in schools; what proposals he has to increase the range of languages available; what teaching there is in schools on non-European languages; and if he will make a statement. [87367] Mr. Miliband: A survey conducted by Warwick university estimated that around 20 per cent. of primary schools currently provide some form of language teaching. Secondary schools are required to offer at least one of the working languages of the EU. When schools have met this requirement they are free to offer non- European languages. Ofsted is not aware of any secondary schools that have no provision for language teaching. We do not collect data on the number of languages taught in secondary schools. However, we are aware that overall around 20 languages are offered by 157 Specialist Language Colleges including Chinese, Japanese, Urdu and Gujerati. Our Languages Strategy which was published on 18 December, sets out how we intend to improve the country's capabilities in language skills.

Secondary information