Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) staff in his Department and (b) Diplomatic Service staff posted to (i) Russian and (ii) Chinese embassies or missions who can speak the language of the nation they are in to C1 CEFR proficiency or higher.

Language skills are critical to the FCO's operation. FCO officers undertake full-time language training in preparation for roles overseas which require them to speak the local language (known as speaker slots). The FCO's full-time language training programme is delivered in up to 85 languages and takes officers to C1 (operational) level in the required language. Their proficiency level is assessed by an externally validated exam at the end of their training programme.