Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support language skills and training across Government departments.

The FCDO is part of the cross-Whitehall languages group which supports and promotes language learning across government departments. The FCDO makes its language training contracts available to other government departments, allowing them to access our competitively procured services. The FCDO is committed to strengthening the languages skills of its staff, who support the achievement of other government departments' international objectives as part of their work.