Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that foreign language experts in the Army are available within each regiment and brigade.

Foreign language expertise and training within the Army is prioritised based on role and requirement. Priority is focused on the Specialised Infantry group (announced in Strategic Defence Security Review 15) and Brigades with an operational defence engagement requirement. At present, there are over 12,000 Army personnel recorded as holding language qualifications.

The Army is currently considering low-level (and higher level) language and cultural capability, as part of wider land environment defence engagement doctrine.