Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to drop their targets for the uptake of modern foreign languages as part of the English Baccalaureate; and if so, why.

Following the decision by the previous government in 2004 to make modern foreign languages non-compulsory at Key Stage 4, uptake at GCSE for languages decreased significantly.

We want more pupils to study languages, which unlock huge opportunities in life. That is why we made languages compulsory at Key Stage 2, and included them as part of the English Baccalaureate set of subjects. Under the current government, the decline has reversed and the proportion of pupils taking languages has risen from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019.

However, we know there is more to do. That is why we are investing millions of pounds in a range of programmes, including the MFL pedagogy pilot, a digi-mentoring scheme, and the Mandarin Excellence Programme. We will continue to listen to stakeholders and review other ways to improve take up of these important subjects, including but not limited to German.