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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what projects are undertaken by (a) British embassies and (b) the British Council to offer members of overseas parliaments free lessons to learn the English language; and if he will make a statement. [195707] Mr. Mullin: Neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), nor the British Council runs centrally- funded programmes to provide free English lessons to overseas parliamentarians. The British Council provides English language training on a repayment basis. Where this is sponsored by other organisations, including FCO posts, it may be free to participants, including parliamentarians. Although central records are not kept, and the following list may not be definitive, these projects have been carried out by the British Council on behalf of the sponsoring bodies indicated: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Country Details Sponsor Bulgaria 15 x 30-hour courses between autumn 2002 British embassy and autumn 2004 for MPs and Ministers and occasional courses for parliamentary Members and Deputy Ministers/Ministers Morocco 30 hours for eight Ministers--total 240 British embassy hours Romania 540 hours for the presidential UNDP administration Sri Lanka 100 hours for parliamentary administrators UNDP Ukraine 75 hours for one MP and tuition for four other British embassy members of the Verhovna Rada Committee for European Integration Georgia Tuition for over 50 Members of Parliament British embassy/British Council _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Parliamentarians may be nominated for Chevening Fellowships sponsored by the FCO. These courses include an optional opportunity for the Fellows to improve their English, which is free to participants.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

195707; 426 c520-2W;426 c520-1W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Education Languages English language Embassies British Council

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk