HL Deb 26 March 2004 vol 659 cc121-2WA
Lord Astor of Hever

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Which languages other than English were taught at the Defence School of Languages in each of the past three years. [HL1895]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)

The following languages were taught at the Defence School of Languages over the past three years.

Arabic, Italian, Farsi, Dutch, Pashtu, Russian, Urdu, Serbian, Greek, Bosnian, Turkish, Albanian, Hindi, Serbo-Croat, French, Norwegian, Spanish, Ukrainian.

Lord Astor of Hever

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many British military personnel were trained in Arabic to (a) colloquial level, (b) linguist level and (c) interpreter level in each of the past three years. [HL1896]

Lord Bach

The levels requested are no longer extant. There are now four possible levels of training that currently reflect military foreign language requirements:

  1. (a) Survival.
  2. (b) Operational.
  3. (c) Advanced Certificate.
  4. (d) Diploma.

The numbers trained at the Defence School of Languages are as follows:

Level Training Year 2001–02 Training Year 2002–03 Training Year 2003–04
Survival (10 weeks) 30 50 72
Operational (6 months) 0 0 12
Advanced Certificate (12 months) 1 0 0
Diploma (18 months) 26 30 32

In addition, military students were also trained for specific purposes but not to established standards as follows:

Level Training Year 2001–02 Training Year 2002–03 Training Year 2003–04
Basic (1–2 weeks) 66 14 23
Diploma Refresh (3 weeks) 5 12 45
Basic Patrol Iraqi (1 week) 0 0 130

Lord Astor of Hever

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many British military personnel received foreign language training at the Defence School of Languages in each of the past three years; and how many are forecast to receive foreign language training this year. [HL1897]

Lord Bach

The number of British military personnel trained at the Defence School of Languages (DSL) is as follows:

Training Year
2001–02 363
2002–03 271
2003–04 380

These figures exclude all training that is contracted out and delivered for DSL, which currently runs at around 100–120 per annum.

The current forecast for the training year 2004–05 is that 220 British military personnel will be trained at DSL.

Lord Astor of Hever

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the total net operating cost of the Defence School of Languages in the most recent year for which figures are available. [HL1899]

Lord Bach

The net operating costs of the Defence School of Languages for Financial Year 2002–03 was £6,007,770.

Lord Astor of Hever

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will provide a breakdown of revenue generated by the Defence School of Languages in the most recent year for which figures are available. [HL1900]

Lord Bach

The revenue generated by the Defence School of Languages for financial year 2002–03 is £1,363,045. The breakdown is:

  1. (a) Receipts for overseas students—£1,270,426
  2. (b) Local income generation—£92,619