Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take in
response to the recommendations of the Council of Europe of 2
February (CM/Rec(2022)1) on the importance of promoting
plurilingual and intercultural education to support democratic
culture.
(CB)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper, and I remind the House of my language interests,
as set out in the register.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, languages education is an important element in
developing a democratic and socially just society. We are
incredibly fortunate to have English as our lingua franca, but we
also value familiarity with other languages and cultures.
Highlighting the interconnectedness of languages and increasing
the profile of community languages is part of our new language
support offer from 2023. Revised GCSE content will make languages
more accessible and improve uptake. New measures will increase
the number of language teachers.
(CB)
My Lords, I am pleased, of course, that as one of the 47 members
of the Council of Europe, the UK signed up to this recommendation
and I am encouraged by the positive words from the Minister. But
the Government also decided to withdraw the UK’s membership of
the council’s European Centre for Modern Languages. This means
that our teachers no longer have access to a wide range of
valuable professional development opportunities, which, at a time
of MFL teacher shortage and under-recruitment, seems perverse.
Will the Minister agree to reconsider UK membership of the ECML
as one of the specific measures we could take to back up our
in-principle support for this recommendation?
(Con)
My understanding is that the decision to withdraw from the
council’s European Centre for Modern Languages was taken over a
decade ago and we have no plans to rejoin at this time. We
currently fund teacher continuing professional development via
the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy. To
encourage recruitment for the academic year 2023-24, we have
increased the language bursary to £25,000 and we are also
offering a prestigious scholarship worth £27,000 for French,
German and Spanish trainees.
(LD)
My Lords, will the Minister give us some idea of the Government’s
assessment of the cost of not having sufficient people
understanding other modern languages—or are the Government happy
to have our heads eternally bowed to Google Translate?
(Con)
I am not aware of whether those costings have been done, but if
they have, I am more than happy to share them with the House.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, I congratulate the Prime Minister on attending in
person the first meeting of the European Political Community, in
Prague, which discussed security and energy. Will the Minister
join me in encouraging the Prime Minister—whoever he or she may
be, and from whichever party— to attend the Council of Europe
summit to be held in Reykjavik in May next year?
(Con)
I do not believe our Prime Minister needs any advice on that
matter.
(Con)
My Lords, given that English is the most spoken language in the
world and that Spanish, as a first language, is the second most
spoken language, will my noble friend reassure me that priority
will always be given to the teaching of Spanish?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for her question. I am sure she will be
pleased, as I am, to note that Spanish is now the second most
popular modern foreign language at GCSE with almost 110,000
entries in the academic year 2020-21.
(CB)
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that the BBC World
Service is a major promoter of democratic culture and the English
language worldwide? Does she think that, at a time when
courageous protesters in Iran, especially women, are seeking
reform and change in that country—over 1 million of whom listen
to BBC radio on the World Service—this is a good time to be
cutting and removing those services for people who are so
desperate to see the promotion of democracy?
(Con)
Like all Members of the House, I have the deepest respect for the
courage of very young women in Iran, in particular, and the
process they have led. I am sure my colleagues at the Foreign
Office are listening to the noble Lord’s comments.
(Lab)
My Lords, a knowledge of foreign languages opens doors,
particularly for business. What encouragement, in the form of
in-service training or financial help, is given to the private
sector to work with government in order to ensure that we
encourage UK plc to open doors through the use of language?
(Con)
Obviously, the Government support continuing professional
development for people in work—this includes our commitment to a
lifelong loan entitlement—so that we as an economy and as workers
within that economy can stay agile to the requirements, whether
languages or more broadly.
The (CB)
My Lords, focusing on the “intercultural education” aspect of
this Question, can the Minister say what assessment has been made
so far of the loss of value represented by the lack of
reciprocity in the Turing scheme?
(Con)
I do not have a formal assessment of the impact of the lack of
reciprocity, but I am very pleased to share with the House that
around 38,000 young people will be funded to take part in the
Turing scheme this year, going to 150 locations, and that 52% of
those young people come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The noble
Earl understands better than I do that you cannot make a direct
comparison with the Erasmus scheme, but I remind the House that
in its last year 17,000 young people took part.
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the study of a foreign
language provides unique opportunities to young people and to our
country, given the growing isolation that has followed Brexit? Is
she concerned that the lowest take-up of languages is in the
poorest communities? What action will the Government take to
ensure that young people in these communities receive their
proper entitlement to such important educational opportunities
and are not disfranchised from the international identity by
recent Brexit developments?
(Con)
The Government are concerned about the level of uptake of modern
foreign languages in schools generally, and specifically in the
communities to which the noble Baroness refers. That is why we
announced in our schools White Paper that we are setting up a
network of language hubs, introducing new continual professional
development courses for language teachers at both primary and
secondary level, and have undertaken a review of the modern
foreign languages GCSE curriculum and syllabus, which we think
will improve uptake.
(Lab)
My Lords, I remind noble Lords of my entries in the register. The
Minister mentioned some facts and figures to do with the Turing
scheme. Can she assure us that all students who spend a year
abroad as part of their studies at university do not have to pay
any extra and that their universities do not have to subsidise
them in any way as a result of the change from Erasmus to the
Turing scheme?
(Con)
I will need to confirm the exact details of that in writing to
the noble Baroness.
(Con)
Does my noble friend agree that the reciprocal to this Question
is equally applicable regarding the teaching of English to
speakers of other languages? I declare an interest as the
non-remunerated life president of Trinity College London.
(Con)
I absolutely agree with my noble friend. That remains an area of
important focus for the department.
of Darlington (Lab)
My Lords, languages unlock so many opportunities for young
people, and a weight of research suggests that they positively
affect all other subjects a child is studying. In light of this,
we on these Benches propose after-school clubs for every child,
which schools can choose to use—and often do use—for fun,
accessible language provision. Will the Government consider
adopting a similar measure, especially given the raging cost of
living crisis?
(Con)
As I mentioned, the Government’s focus is really on trying to
improve the uptake of languages, particularly at GCSE level. That
is why we have piloted the new curriculum. We are optimistic that
it will be much more engaging for young people. That is in no way
to diminish the value of after-school clubs, but the Government’s
focus is on the former.
