Baroness Coussins
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the conclusion of the British Academy’s report Languages: The State of the Nation, published in February, that the United Kingdom will be unable to meet its aspirations for growth and global influence unless action is taken by them, businesses and in education to remedy the deficit in foreign language skills.
Baroness Coussins
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare an interest as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages.
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My Lords, the Government welcome the report and are committed to the teaching of languages. The national curriculum, to be statutory from September 2014, includes a foreign language at key stage 2 for the first time. In higher education, we have supported the continued availability of language study through HEFCE’s strategically important and vulnerable subject funding. There is an increase in the number of students opting to study abroad. We will reflect on the report’s recommendations to ensure that we are doing all that we can to support growth.
Baroness Coussins
That is a positive reply, but I am not sure that it is quite enough to deal with the perhaps surprising finding of this report, which is the need for language skills at all levels of the labour market, not just for an internationally mobile elite. In 2011, 27% of admin and clerical vacancies went unfilled because of a lack of foreign language skills. Can the Minister say how the Government can work with employers to encourage them to be more proactive in managing their language needs for the sake of their own competitiveness, and for the employability of UK citizens?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My reading of the figures from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills survey is that it reports a lack of skills in admin and clerical roles, but not quite to the extent that the noble Baroness has indicated. We share the concern about skills at all levels, from professional fluency right through to a basic knowledge of language, which can make a welcoming introduction to somebody coming in and can be a valuable ice-breaker.
In response to the Wilson review, the Government have announced set-up funding for the establishment of a national centre for universities and business. That will cover all aspects of HE business collaboration, which will of course include languages.
Lord Harrison
My Lords, will the Minister look again at the discontinuation of the Asset Languages exams, which have so well helped to mobilise the rich range of languages that our schoolchildren have and point them into the way of employability or further academic work?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My Lords, the Asset Languages programme was indeed valuable. However, we are introducing a range of other language provisions, from school through to university, to ensure that our language skills increase over the years.
Lord Storey
My Lords, my noble friend the Minister may not be aware that the Select Committee report, Roads to Success: SME Exports, was published on Friday. One of its recommendations was about the importance of foreign languages, particular those not traditionally taught in schools: for example, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese. Has the Ministry thought about how we can develop these languages, which are crucial to our exports? A thought might be Saturday schools.
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My noble friend makes an interesting point. Many schools up and down the land have after-school clubs in languages, and some have Saturday schools as well. There are also supplementary schools that meet at the weekend. These are largely set up by specific ethnic communities and are where children who go to a state school during the week learn their heritage language: for instance, Arabic, Polish or Greek. However, I agree that there is more that we can do, and Saturday clubs might provide a way through.
Lord Morgan
My Lords, is it not ironic, in view of what we have heard, that modern languages are a particular casualty of the disastrous changes in the Government’s funding regime in universities? Does this not completely contradict what the Minister has been saying?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
No, that is not entirely true. Modern languages are categorised as one of the strategically important and vulnerable subject areas, so increased funding is going to universities to try to ensure that language provision remains.
Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve
My Lords, these initiatives are very welcome, but we have now had nearly 15 years of reports congruent with that of the British Academy and we need a remedy that is not piecemeal and not based on initiatives or on the thought that Saturday morning clubs can do a lot. This is really harming our economy at all levels. Does the Minister have a strategic reply to offer?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My Lords, we are reversing the trend that came from the previous Government of languages ceasing to be strategically important in schools. We are already seeing an increase in the take-up of languages. By making them statutory at key stages 2 and 3, but with a statutory entitlement at key stage 4, we hope to put pressure on schools to make sure that the language provision is there. We have funded a £5 million British Academy programme, which of course led to this report. There is therefore funding behind these various initiatives, but we share with the noble Baroness a belief in the importance of language learning.
Lord Eden of Winton
My Lords, will my noble friend refute the widely held view that very young children cannot cope with learning a second language? Will she ensure that the very best quality of language teaching takes place at a child’s first school?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
Indeed, and I repeat what I said before: the new national curriculum at key stage 2 will mean that for the first time primary schools will have to teach French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, Latin or ancient Greek.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, in addition to the British Academy’s conclusion that language tuition should be combined with vocational and STEM subjects, does the Minister agree that a sensible approach might also be to include a compulsory foreign language with all university degree courses?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
The noble Baroness makes a very valuable point. Indeed, many universities are already doing this. We know, for example, that UCL, Aston University and the University of York already have a language provision for all students in their first year. Other universities are combining a language with a science, say, or with another discipline. However, we must encourage them to do more. As to making it compulsory, that is a step that we will probably not be taking.
Lord West of Spithead
My Lords, does the Minister not agree that one of the reasons why we punch above our weight in global influence is our wonderfully disciplined defence forces? Does she also agree that successive cuts have put that influence severely at risk?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
The noble Lord takes us slightly away from the Question. However, I would say that it is very encouraging to see that the MoD has always had a language provision, and, indeed, that the Foreign Office provision in languages has been resurrected by this Government after being cut by his Government. It is therefore encouraging to see that the MoD and the Foreign Office are collaborating on the provision of modern languages for their people.