The UK has taken the positive step of rejoining Erasmus+ from 2027, the EU’s flagship education exchange and partnerships programme. Erasmus+ will give learners, trainees and staff across schools, further and higher education, adult education, youth and sport opportunities to study, train, work or volunteer abroad. These experiences will bring language learning to life, inspiring more young people to study modern foreign languages and helping build the skills the UK needs to compete internationally.

Alongside this, the government is committed to strengthening the languages pipeline and increasing uptake of modern foreign languages. We are taking forward the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, supporting high-quality teaching through the National Consortium for Languages Education, and helping recruit specialist teachers through a £20,000 tax-free bursary, or a £22,000 scholarship for French, German and Spanish trainees. We also support a broad range of language qualifications, with GCSEs and A levels available in up to 15 languages.

The department is committed to supporting the teaching of modern foreign languages in England’s schools, including in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. The study of languages is compulsory under the national curriculum at key stages 2 and 3 for all maintained schools, and will become compulsory in academies. Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, we are also updating the key stage 2 languages programme of study to standardise expectations and improve primary to secondary school languages transition.

The key factor in encouraging students to continue studying languages beyond key stage 3 is high-quality teaching. To support this, the government funds the National Consortium for Languages Education, which provides language support for schools and online professional development for teachers across the country.

The department is also offering a £20,000 tax-free bursary for trainee language teachers starting courses in 2026, or a £22,000 tax-free scholarship for those training to teach French, German, or Spanish. In addition, Oak National Academy has developed modern foreign languages resources for key stages 2 to 4, helping teachers deliver high-quality lessons while reducing planning time.

The government is committed to increasing the uptake of modern foreign languages and strengthening the languages pipeline. We are taking forward the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review while going further to address barriers at every stage, from primary education to GCSE, A level and higher education. This includes learning from successful local approaches and continuing to support the quality of languages teaching through investment in the National Consortium for Languages Education. To help recruit specialist teachers, the department is also offering a £20,000 tax-free bursary for trainee language teachers starting courses in 2026, or a £22,000 tax-free scholarship for those training to teach French, German or Spanish.

The government also wants to see a broad range of languages qualifications. French, German and Spanish remain the most widely taught modern foreign languages at GCSE and A level, although qualifications are available in up to 15 languages at both levels. Decisions on which languages to offer at GCSE are made by the independent awarding organisations.

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s outcomes. This is why the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools, as well as our colleges, over the course of this Parliament. We are already seeing positive signs that our investment is delivering, having achieved over 71% of our target.​

​As part of our package of support to recruit, retain and develop high-quality modern foreign language (MFL) teachers in secondary schools, we are offering £20,000 tax-free bursaries for MFL trainees. This government inherited a system with critical shortages of these teachers, with the department achieving only 32% of its postgraduate initial teacher training target in 2023/24. We have now improved this and achieved 94% of the target in 2025/26, with 1,378 new trainees having started postgraduate training in MFL compared to 1,179 the year before.

The UK stands firm on human rights in China, including in Tibet. We continue to encourage respect for freedom of religion or belief, cultural expression and linguistic rights in Tibet and across China, and we raise this directly with the Chinese authorities at senior levels.

We note the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' concerns that China's Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress may further restrict the rights and freedoms of ethnic minorities. The law also risks undermining Tibetans' ability to use the Tibetan language freely and to preserve and develop their cultural heritage. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has raised these concerns with Chinese officials, stressing the importance of ensuring that the law does not harm the rights of ethnic minority communities and is not applied extraterritorially.

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To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential merits of introducing legal protections for the use of minority languages in election materials.

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman that I cannot respond to him in Cornish.

Meur ras ha myttin da, Mr Speaker. Since January this year, Kernewek, the Cornish language, has enjoyed part III protection under the European charter for regional or minority languages, alongside Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. In the light of that recognition, what steps can the Electoral Commission take to review its policies and guidance to ensure that Cornish speakers are not treated less favourably in elections than speakers of other protected minority languages?

Meur ras ha myttin da, Mr Speaker. Since January this year, Kernewek, the Cornish language, has enjoyed part III protection under the European charter for regional or minority languages, alongside Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. In the light of that recognition, what steps can the Electoral Commission take to review its policies and guidance to ensure that Cornish speakers are not treated less favourably in elections than speakers of other protected minority languages?

Meur ras ha myttin da, Mr Speaker. Since January this year, Kernewek, the Cornish language, has enjoyed part III protection under the European charter for regional or minority languages, alongside Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. In the light of that recognition, what steps can the Electoral Commission take to review its policies and guidance to ensure that Cornish speakers are not treated less favourably in elections than speakers of other protected minority languages?

The Electoral Commission has made no formal assessment of this. It would be a matter for Parliament to introduce such legal protections. It is prescribed in law that poll cards and ballot papers must be provided in English or Welsh, but there are no other prescribed language requirements relating to election materials. The commission translates voter materials, including voter registration forms, into a range of languages, informed by census data and community insights on voter needs.

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.