Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Mak Excerpts
Monday 29th January 2018

(6 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Damian Hinds Portrait Damian Hinds
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It starts with an international outlook and learning about other countries. Of course, it is also about encouraging more teachers to go into teaching modern foreign languages, and we are working hard on that.

Alan Mak Portrait Alan Mak (Havant) (Con)
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The number of entries for GCSE Mandarin has increased by nearly 50% since 2010. Will the Secretary of State continue to support that language and other languages spoken in the world’s fastest-growing economies?

Damian Hinds Portrait Damian Hinds
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My hon. Friend is exactly right about the importance of Mandarin. Of course, this is a hugely important economy. That is why things like the Mandarin excellence programme are so much in focus at the Department for Education.