Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office written question – answered at on 6 November 2025.
Neil O'Brien
Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in her Department hold language qualifications in (a) Mandarin, (b) Cantonese, (c) Russian, (d) Ukrainian, (e) Arabic, (f) Farsi, and (g) Hebrew, broken down by C1 and C2 levels.
Seema Malhotra
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities), Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The language proficiency of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff cannot adequately be assessed solely by looking at the number with current C1 and C2 qualifications, as this does not take into account those staff members who may hold other qualifications in those languages or be native speakers. A full record of staff language capabilities is not centrally held, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Yes2 people think so
No2 people think not
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