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
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).
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding his Department allocated to each recipient under the Russian Language Programme since financial year 2013-14.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Russian Language Programme was launched in 2014 following Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. The Programme was funded from the Cross-Government Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF). In April 2016 we launched a new four year strategic communications and media development programme, called the Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme, designed to protect national security by countering disinformation directed at the UK and its Allies from Russia. The former Russian Language Programme was amalgamated into this. Documents and correspondence about projects within the Programme will not be published, as this information could then be used actively to attempt to disrupt and undermine the Programme's effectiveness.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the (a) amount and (b) recipient name was for grants paid through the FCO-led Russian Language Programme in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO's Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme is designed to protect national security by countering disinformation directed at the UK and its Allies from Russia. Russia persistently uses disinformation to target its perceived enemies. An example was the Russian disinformation campaign that followed the attack in Salisbury, which was intended to distract from Russian culpability. Information about individual projects within the Programme will not be published, as this information could then be used to actively attempt to disrupt and undermine the Programme's effectiveness.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196177 on Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Integrity Initiative, whether the funding provided to the Institute of Statecraft was through the FCO-led Russian Language Programme.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Russian Language Programme was launched in 2014 following Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. In April 2016 we launched a new four year strategic communications and media development programme authorised by the National Security Council, called the Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme. The former Russian Language Programme was amalgamated into this. The funding provided to the Institute for Statecraft was funded from the Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fluent Russian speakers have been trained or recruited by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) since November 2016; and how many fluent Russian speakers are employed by the FCO.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Russian is a priority language for the FCO. Where required, officers undertake up to 14 months full time language training to reach C1 Operational level as defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), an international standard to describe language ability. Since November 2016 a total of 64 officers have undertaken or are undergoing Russian language training. The FCO has 212 employees registered with some level of Russian, 83 of which have reached C1 or above (as of December 2017).