Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to introduce English language learning as a condition of benefit receipt for foreign nationals.

The Department can require that claimants attend English language courses as a work preparation activity if this will make them more likely to find work, or to increase the hours they work. A sanction - which is a reduction in the amount of Universal Credit paid - is applicable where a claimant fails to meet a work preparation requirement without good reason.