Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of total postings and how many ambassadors have held Operational level (C1) examination passes in the official language of the country to which they were posted in each year since 2006.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We appointed 53 Ambassadors in 2015. Of these 24 were appointed to speaker slots and 10 have an Operational level C1 examination pass. The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis. To provide statistics for the years 2006-14 would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the duration of ambassadorial postings (a) where HM Ambassador is a speaker of the official language of the country to which he is posted (b) where HM Ambassador's primary foreign language is not that of the country to which he is posted.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The majority of Heads of Mission have a tour length of three or four years, unless they are posted to a hardship or conflict post where the tour may be shorter. Around 100 Heads of Mission roles require language skills and are designated “speaker slots”.
We offer language training to Heads of Mission where this is required. The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis. It is essential that all our Heads of Mission have the necessary skills, including languages, to do their jobs. Many of our Heads of Mission will return to Posts where they have existing language capability, in these cases we will provide top up or refresher training. Our Head of Mission Appointment Boards take into account language skills as part of the overall assessment of suitability for a role. In some cases the best candidate may not already speak the language and for these roles we will provide longer training to reach the requisite level. We encourage all those who have undergone language training to maintain their language skills throughout their careers.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23665, in which 33 different languages his Department has Operational Level (C1) examination pass speakers employed in the last five years up to the end of 2015.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Records show that up until the end of 2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had officers with a C1 pass in the following languages:
Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Mandarin, Pashtu, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.
The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many officials of his Department and at which grades are classified speakers of foreign languages for each such language spoken.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Records from the last 5 years (up to the end of 2015) show that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has 505 officers with an Operational level (C1) exam pass across 33 different languages. This figure comprises 94 Senior Management Staff officers and 411 officers from the delegated grades.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the US administration on the effect on UK citizens seeking to enter the US of recent changes to the US visa waiver programme affecting people who have previously visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan or hold dual citizenship of those countries.
Answered by Lord Swire
US Congress passed legislation making changes to the US visa waiver programme on 18 December. We had been in close and regular contact with the US administration, as well as members of Congress, while the bill was under consideration but ultimately this was a decision for them. Since then, officials at our Embassy in Washington have been in contact with the US administration as they consider the bill’s implementation, to ensure British travellers understand the impact of the changes, and avoid disruption to their travel plans. As ever, we will keep our Travel Advice under review.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what payments the Government would accrue from extending the lease for use of Diego Garcia by the United States for a further 20 years.
Answered by James Duddridge
There is no lease of Diego Garcia to the United States military under which a rent is charged. The use of the British Indian Ocean Territory (including Diego Garcia) is regulated by a series of bilateral agreements between the UK and US covering a period of fifty years. I expect my officials to begin substantive discussions with US colleagues about post-2016 arrangements later this year, as the conclusions from the feasibility study on resettlement of Chagossians begin to become clear.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential security benefits of the UK's ability to use Diego Garcia as a military base after the current lease for use of that territory by the US has expired.
Answered by James Duddridge
The 2012 White Paper, ‘The Overseas Territories – Security, Success & Sustainability’ made clear the strategic importance of our Overseas Territories, which give Britain a global strategic reach in support of our international objectives. The US Base on Diego Garcia represents a vital part of the Anglo-American defence relationship, remains a significant strategic asset for the UK and has previously been used for UK military operations.