Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2025 to Question 40311, if she will provide an updated figure for the number of staff in her Department who currently hold valid Russian-language examination passes at C1 level or above.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Almost 100 valid Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) qualifications in Russian are currently held at C1 level or above by FCDO staff, and almost 75 in Mandarin. Exam passes are valid for five years. Some staff may concurrently hold a valid C1 and C2 pass. As previously explained to the Hon. Member, these figures alone do not provide an accurate measure of FCDO staff language capabilities as staff may hold a non-FCDO language qualification or be a native speaker.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 40312 on China: Diplomatic Service, how many staff in her Department have achieved Mandarin qualifications at (a) C1 and (b) C2 level under the CEFR scale in the past five years for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Almost 100 valid Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) qualifications in Russian are currently held at C1 level or above by FCDO staff, and almost 75 in Mandarin. Exam passes are valid for five years. Some staff may concurrently hold a valid C1 and C2 pass. As previously explained to the Hon. Member, these figures alone do not provide an accurate measure of FCDO staff language capabilities as staff may hold a non-FCDO language qualification or be a native speaker.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2025 to Question 40311 on Russia: Diplomatic Service, how many staff in her Department have language proficiency in Russian at (a) CEFR level C1 and (b) higher.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer he was provided on 6 November in response to Question 86285.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in her Department hold language qualifications in (a) Mandarin, (b) Cantonese, (c) Russian, (d) Ukrainian, (e) Arabic, (f) Farsi, and (g) Hebrew, broken down by C1 and C2 levels.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The language proficiency of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff cannot adequately be assessed solely by looking at the number with current C1 and C2 qualifications, as this does not take into account those staff members who may hold other qualifications in those languages or be native speakers. A full record of staff language capabilities is not centrally held, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of British diplomats posted to Russia have language proficiency in Russian at CEFR level C1 or higher.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Around 70 members of staff of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office currently have valid exam passes in Russian at C1 level or above. Exam passes are valid for five years.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in his Department speak (a) Russian and (b) Ukrainian.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO only holds figures for staff who have completed FCDO-certified training at C1/C2 levels: this does not include our Country-Based Staff, many of whom are multilingual. 55 members of staff currently have valid exam passes in Russian at C1, including 10 at C2. Seven members of staff have a valid C1 exam pass in Ukrainian. Exam passes are valid for five years.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the budget of the BBC World Service as part of the UK's efforts to counter Russian disinformation in African states.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government strongly values the work of the BBC World Service and its independent and impartial broadcasting. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine means that BBC World Service channels are playing an increasingly valuable role in challenging disinformation emanating from the Kremlin.
The Secretary of State has made it clear to the BBC in her letter confirming the final licence fee settlement that it should continue to make a substantive investment from the licence fee into the World Service to ensure that it continues to effectively reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world - in English and through its language services.
As set out in the Framework Agreement the BBC should continue to agree objectives, priorities and targets for the World Service with the Foreign Secretary, as well as the languages in which the World Service is to be provided, and any changes to these matters. The World Service’s Spending Review settlement for the period 2022 to 2025 from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be confirmed shortly.
In addition on 24th March the government announced an additional £4.1m of funding for the BBC World Service, to support its Ukrainian and Russian language services. We are not considering providing any further additional funding at this time.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office employees have some level of Russian language ability; how many of those have reached C1 Operational level as defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR C1) or above; and how have these numbers changed since December 2017.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Almost 60 members of staff of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office currently have valid exam passes in Russian at C1 level. Exam passes are valid for five years. In December 2017, that figure was below 50. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does not routinely collect data on language skills below C1 level.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many British nationals who are Russian speakers were employed in each of the last five years by (1) the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, (2) the Diplomatic Service, and (3) the Security Services.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Almost 60 FCDO staff members have passed Russian examinations at C1 (operational) level in the last five years, mostly Diplomatic Service staff on postings to Russian-speaking countries. It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff working at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office at C5 level or above and working from the office on King Charles Street speak fluent Russian.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Language skills are critical to the FCDO's operation and Russian, as one of the FCDO's five top priority languages, is no exception to this. FCDO officers undertake full-time language training in preparation for roles overseas which require them to speak the local language (known as speaker slots). Although there are no formal 'speaker slot' roles based in King Charles Street, some roles in London (such as Research Analysts) will draw on language skills in their day to day work and officers returning from speaker slots are incentivised to maintain their language skills and 're-qualify' once their FCDO exam pass has expired (after 5 years).