Written Question·Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office·UIN 86285

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Languages

Tabled: 29 October 2025

Answered: 6 November 2025

Question

Neil O'Brien

Conservative — Harborough, Oadby and Wigston

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 do

Answer

Seema Malhotra

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 hol...

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