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.

The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.

Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.

As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.

The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.

Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.

As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.

Transparency around who is promoting campaign material is a key part of equipping people with the tools to scrutinise political messages and make informed decisions in elections and referendums.

Under UK law, printed and digital campaigning material in scope of the rules is required to include the name and address of the promoter of the material and any person on behalf of whom the material is being published. Printed material also requires the name and address of the printer.

The Government has no plans to prescribe the language of imprints. There are already requirements in legislation to ensure the legibility and accessibility of imprints and the Electoral Commission publishes guidance to support campaigners to meet those requirements.

It is an offence to distribute printed or digital election campaign material without a compliant imprint and enforcement is a matter for the police or the Electoral Commission.

The Government has no plans to assess or regulate the use of non-English language campaign materials at elections. Campaigners are permitted to use foreign languages to engage voters who come from a wide range of diverse backgrounds.

Policing is operationally independent of Government and decisions on procurement are taken by individual forces. However, Police are provided briefing and support by Government to understand and manage national security risks.

Separately, there are a range of tools to ensure that sensitive UK supply chains and technologies are suitable and safe.

This includes the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA). The NSIA provides the Government with powers to identify and, where necessary, intervene in acquisitions of entities or assets that may pose a threat to the UK’s national security.

Additionally, the Procurement Act 2023 provides Government powers to exclude and debar suppliers from public sector contracts where they are judged to pose a national security risk.

French, German and Spanish are the most widely taught modern foreign languages at GCSE and A level. In addition, qualifications are available in up to 15 languages at GCSE and 15 languages at A level. The table below outlines the languages that are taught at GCSE (or equivalent) level and/or at A level:

Decisions about which languages to offer at GCSE in England are taken by the four independent awarding organisations: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC. These organisations may develop qualifications based on subject content set by the department. In deciding whether to offer a qualification in a particular language, awarding organisations consider a range of factors, including the cohort size expected to take exams each year (rather than the size of the speaking population), demand from schools and colleges, and the long‑term viability of the qualification.

Reports of human rights violations in Tibet are deeply concerning. This Government stands firm on human rights, including against China's repression of the people of Tibet, and we continue to raise our concerns at the highest levels; the Prime Minister raised Tibet during his meeting with Xi Jinping in January.

We champion the right to freedom of religion or belief for all abroad, including Tibetan Buddhists, across a wide range of international fora; the UK's Human Rights Ambassador raised our concerns around restrictions in Tibet at the UN Human Rights Council on 16 March.

The government is committed to supporting the teaching of languages. Languages provide an insight into other cultures and open the door to travel and employment opportunities. Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department is refreshing the key stage 2 languages programme of study to strengthen expectations, boosting pupils’ progress in the subject, and supporting their transition into secondary school. We are also strengthening the key stage 3 languages curriculum to improve progression to GCSE.

In our response to the Review, we made a commitment to work with the sector to understand successful approaches to supporting the languages pipeline, starting at primary by reforming the curriculum, increasing take up at GCSE, and boosting demand at A level and degree level, to meet future social and economic needs. This includes learning from successful local models. We will support teachers to implement changes to the curriculum, through continued investment in the National Consortium for Languages Education, which provides high quality professional development and wraparound support for language teachers, with national reach.

Counter Terrorism Policing continues to maintain the technological tools andtranslation capabilities necessary to meet legislative and evidentialrequirements.CTP are strengthening this capacity, including through the development anddeployment of enhanced technical solutions and by increasing the number ofsuitably cleared translators.

Counter Terrorism Policing continues to maintain the technological tools and translation capabilities necessary to meet legislative and evidential requirements.

CTP are strengthening this capacity, including through the development and deployment of enhanced technical solutions and by increasing the number of suitably cleared translators.

Counter Terrorism Policing continues to maintain the technological tools and translation capabilities necessary to meet legislative and evidential requirements.

CTP are strengthening this capacity, including through the development and deployment of enhanced technical solutions and by increasing the number of suitably cleared translators.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Electoral Commission has not made such an assessment.

There are no requirements in law on the language of imprints. Campaigners may wish to produce campaign material in other languages to reach voters whose first language is not English. The purpose of an imprint is to ensure that voters seeing the material, know who is responsible for it. Providing an imprint in the same language as the campaign material would be one way to ensure transparency for those voters that the material is targeting.