Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to require all state-funded schools to work with local authorities in developing a language needs assessment.

The Department's school census now requires schools to report annually on the written and spoken English proficiency of their individual English as an additional language (EAL) pupils. A five-point scale is used that ranges from "new to English" through to "fluent" and guidance is available to help schools make an accurate assessment.

Fulfilling this requirement will help schools identify the English language needs of their EAL pupils and to plan appropriate support.