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Full-time language training is available to all staff on appointment to one of the
674 designated ‘speaker’ roles based across the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)’s
network of posts overseas. Appointment is made following an advert, application and
selection by interview for a position. All positions (including speaker roles) in
the Senior Management Service are also advertised across the Civil Service. A number
of positions (including speaker roles) in the delegated grades are also advertised
across the Civil Service via ‘Interchange’. All FCO staff (or staff from other governmental
departments (OGDs) if on Interchange) and their spouses/partners posted to non-speaker
roles in a foreign country also have the option of taking up language training to
reach a basic level (Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) – A2 Confidence
foreign language proficiency) to help settle into a new posting overseas. FCO staff
who wish to develop skills in a foreign language can also attend a rolling programme
of part-time lunchtime or evening classes in 12 languages. Where there is space in
these classes, OGD staff are offered places based on language learning needs analyses
by Departments. Language Services Direct (the company who run the FCO Language Centre)
also provide part-time classes to a number of OGDs (the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills, Cabinet Office, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Department
for International Development, Members of Parliament, UK Hydrographic Office) on their
own premises or at Language Services Direct premises (HM Revenue and Customs). Language
Services Direct also run a bespoke training package for staff from both the FCO and
across the Civil Service wishing to apply for positions within EU institutions. A
number of OGDs also appoint staff, following their own internal appointment processes,
to their own ‘speaker’ roles overseas and are able use the Language Centre for training,
or receive training at their own premises from Language Services Direct. To-date over
130 OGD staff have been trained either full-time or part-time at the Centre or at
their own premises.
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