§ Mr. MacFarquharasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) which are the posts under the Ministry of Defence for which a proficiency in Chinese is a necessary prerequisite before appointment; and how many such posts there were 10 years ago;
(2) how many Chinese language students the Ministry of Defence has trained in each of the past 10 years; to what degree of proficiency; how many have maintained that proficiency; and how many are employed at any one time in posts requiring regular reading and speaking of Chinese for professional purposes:
(3) how many students have been trained at the Lyemun Chinese Language School in each of the past 10 years; and what was the average length of stay.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe number of students at the Lyemun Chinese Language School in each of the 10 years to 1977 were as follows:
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Year Total 1967 … … … … 14 1968 … … … … 29 1969 … … … … 40 1970 … … … … 30 1971 … … … … 24 1972 … … … … 27 1973 … … … … 21
1974 … … … … 21 1975 … … … … 20 1976 … … … … 28 1977 … … … … 25 The majority of students are trained to interpreter standard. Once a Service man has completed a tour of duty in the language post for which he was trained any further use of his language skill will depend on his career, and it is not possible to say how many students of the school have maintained their proficiency in Chinese. Most students spend two years at the school; other students spend up to one year.
About 40 posts under the Ministry of Defence currently require proficiency in Chinese. It is not the practice to give more details. Information relating to the position 10 years ago is not available.