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Written question asked by Baroness Debbonaire (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 July 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 21 July 2026. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 20 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Languages: Education

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of children in England being offered teaching at school in (1) Mandarin, (2) Spanish, (3) Hindi, and (4) Arabic.

Answer

The government is committed to supporting the teaching of modern foreign languages in England’s schools. Schools are free to choose which languages they teach at primary and secondary level. When deciding which languages to offer, schools will consider the needs of the communities they serve.

The department does not hold information on the number of children being taught Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi or Arabic in school. However, we can provide the following information on GCSE entries: in 2025, 73% of state-funded secondary schools in England entered at least one pupil for GCSE Spanish (2,719 schools), compared with 28% for GCSE Arabic (1,030 schools) and 31% for GCSE Chinese (1,154 schools).

The department does not hold data for Hindi, as this is offered as an iGCSE qualification, not GCSE. Schools may be used as exam centres for local heritage language schools, so we do not know if the teaching for these exams took place in schools or elsewhere.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL1722
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Education Languages
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk