Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Ansell Excerpts
Monday 10th October 2016

(8 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I want to call several more colleagues in these exchanges.

Caroline Ansell Portrait Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne) (Con)
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On mandarin, I know my hon. Friend will be impressed of the work of St Catherine’s College’s Confucius school and the Eastbourne District Chinese Association. It is clearly important to promote language learning at home. I am pleased to note the uptake in Mandarin, even though I am a French teacher by profession. Can my hon. Friend assure me that we will continue to value opportunities for British students to study abroad?

Nick Gibb Portrait Mr Gibb
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On the last point, yes. We continue to value travel abroad. Learning a language is key to being able to travel and work abroad, and that is what the Mandarin Excellence Programme is all about. We hope 5,000 students will be fluent in Mandarin, reaching levels of HSK4 and HSK5, which go beyond A-level. We want more young people to take languages in our schools—including the language my hon. Friend teaches—following the fall in the numbers taking GCSEs thanks to the Labour party.