Foreign Languages: European Institutions

Lord Liddle Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, 80 languages, 70,000 hours of training and 1,000 full and part-time students—that is the language school.

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

Does the noble Baroness agree that we face an extremely serious situation in relation to British influence in the European Union given that the number of British staff working there has declined by a quarter in the past seven years? Are the Government serious about doing something about that as I see no mention of it in the Foreign Office report or in its statement of priorities yet it should be a top national priority? Are they just sleepwalking out of the European Union?

[Baroness Warsi]

I think the noble Lord will take great comfort from the fact that since 2010 the number of British applicants has increased by 50%.