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449962

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2016
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth office: Languages
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many officials in his Department have undertaken Foreign and Commonwealth Office language classes in each year from 2006.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	25525
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2016 answer text In 2014 there were 255 officers in full time language training with an additional 332 officers and/ or spouses attending part time language classes. In 2015 there were 332 officers in full time language training and 767 officers/spouses following part time language classes. To provide statistics for the years 2006-2013 would incur disproportionate costs. answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 10/02/2016 14:07:50 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449832

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2016
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Diplomatic Service: Languages
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of total postings and how many ambassadors have held Operational level (C1) examination passes in the official language of the country to which they were posted in each year since 2006.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	25453
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2016 answer text <p>We appointed 53 Ambassadors in 2015. Of these 24 were appointed to speaker slots and 10 have an Operational level C1 examination pass. The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis. To provide statistics for the years 2006-14 would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 09/02/2016 14:13:56 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449839

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2016
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Diplomatic Service: Languages
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the duration of ambassadorial postings (a) where HM Ambassador is a speaker of the official language of the country to which he is posted (b) where HM Ambassador's primary foreign language is not that of the country to which he is posted.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	25452
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2016 answer text <p>The majority of Heads of Mission have a tour length of three or four years, unless they are posted to a hardship or conflict post where the tour may be shorter. Around 100 Heads of Mission roles require language skills and are designated “speaker slots”.</p><p>We offer language training to Heads of Mission where this is required. The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis. It is essential that all our Heads of Mission have the necessary skills, including languages, to do their jobs. Many of our Heads of Mission will return to Posts where they have existing language capability, in these cases we will provide top up or refresher training. Our Head of Mission Appointment Boards take into account language skills as part of the overall assessment of suitability for a role. In some cases the best candidate may not already speak the language and for these roles we will provide longer training to reach the requisite level. We encourage all those who have undergone language training to maintain their language skills throughout their careers.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 09/02/2016 14:09:01 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

446890

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2016
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Aviation: Egypt
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the (a) Egyptian Ambassador and (b) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on resuming flights to Sharm El Sheikh.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	23664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2016 answer text <p>The Government is working closely with the Egyptian authorities with a view to a resumption of flights as soon as possible. Ministers are keeping the position under close review. There have also been regular contacts between the Government and the Egyptian Ambassador to the UK to discuss the situation.</p><br /> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 29/01/2016 10:24:48 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449969

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2016
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Languages
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23665, in which 33 different languages his Department has Operational Level (C1) examination pass speakers employed in the last five years up to the end of 2015.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	25483
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2016 answer text <p>Records show that up until the end of 2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had officers with a C1 pass in the following languages:<br>Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Mandarin, Pashtu, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.</p><p>The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 09/02/2016 14:15:35 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449970

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2016
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Languages
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23665, how many (a) Arabic speakers with an Operational level (C1) examination pass and (b) Mandarin/Cantonese speakers there were employed in his Department in each year since 2006.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	25484
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2016 answer text <p>Records from the last five years show that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has 51 officers who have a current Operational Level (C1) Arabic pass and 44 officers with a C1 pass in Mandarin/ Cantonese. We only record current C1 passes, valid for five years after the date of the exam, and therefore do not have pre-2010 data.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 10/02/2016 14:09:34 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

61447

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Green Investment Bank
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure that the Green Investment Bank does not provide support to (a) the proposed Helius Bioenergy Plant at Avonmouth and (b) other biofuel projects.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	200184
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>I have spoken to the Chief Executive of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) about the proposed plant at Avonmouth to ensure he is aware of the concerns that have been raised about it. The impacts of individual proposals for biomass power projects are subject to detailed assessment during the planning approval process and final decisions in each case are a matter for the relevant planning authority. This proposal received planning consent in March 2010. The final consent letter may be found on the DECC Energy Infrastructure webpage at <a href="https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/EIP/pages/projects/Avonmouth.htm" target="_blank">https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/EIP/pages/projects/Avonmouth.htm</a>. I cannot comment on the merits of that decision.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government's position on the role of biomass power within the UK's energy mix has been set out clearly in the UK Bioenergy Strategy (2012) which can be found on the Government's website at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-bioenergy-strategy" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-bioenergy-strategy</a>. Thissets out how the Government seeks to ensure the benefits of bioenergy are achieved in a way that delivers genuine carbon reductions and that fuel is sourced sustainably. The extensive sustainability requirements in place for the use of biomass fuel are set out in the UK Government Response to the consultation on biomass sustainability and the Renewables Obligation (RO), published in August 2013 (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/231102/RO_Biomass_Sustainability_consultation_-_Government_Response_22_August_2013.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/231102/RO_Biomass_Sustainability_consultation_-_Government_Response_22_August_2013.pdf</a>). In considering whether to participate in financing a biomass power project, GIB must satisfy itself that the Government's sustainability requirements are fully met.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Michael Fallon question first answered 30/06/2014 15:43:27 answering member 88 label Biography information for Sir Michael Fallon previous answer version 1735 answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Michael Fallon answering member 88 label Biography information for Sir Michael Fallon
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie