Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Thelma Walker Excerpts
Monday 6th November 2017

(7 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Justine Greening Portrait Justine Greening
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Either the Schools Minister or I will be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that.

Thelma Walker Portrait Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)
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Some 50% of schools and colleges, including Huddersfield New College in my constituency, have dropped modern foreign language subjects from their subject choices, citing funding as a reason. What is the Minister doing to reverse this trend?

Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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The hon. Lady raises a very real concern, which is why the EBacc is such an important performance measure for schools. There was a significant drop in the numbers studying foreign languages due to the last Labour Government’s decision to end compulsion at key stage 4. Under this Government, the percentage of individuals taking a modern foreign language has increased from 40% to 47%, but we need to go further.