§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on recent progress in promoting the teaching of Spanish, German and Russian in maintained schools.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe national curriculum includes a modern foreign language as a foundation subject to be studied by all pupils aged 11 to 16 in maintained secondary schools. German, Russian and Spanish are among the languages which may qualify as the foreign language foundation subject. Within this framework, we are encouraging schools to offer a greater diversity of languages such as German, Spanish and Russian and we have made provision within the specific grant programme for 1991–92 for local education authorities to bid for funds for the diversification of first foreign languages.