To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK armed forces personnel in (a) the Army, (b) the RAF and (c) the Royal Navy are classed as level 3 or higher linguists in (i) Arabic, (ii) Polish, (iii) Russian, (iv) Ukrainian, (v) Estonian, (vi) German, (vii) French, (viii) Pashto, (ix) Dari, (x) Farsi and (xi) Spanish.
Answered on
24 February 2016
The numbers of personnel in the UK Armed Forces in the Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy classed as level 3 or higher linguists in Arabic, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian, German, French, Pashto, Dari, Farsi and Spanish is as follows:
Army | RAF | Navy | Total | |
Arabic | 31 | 16 | 4 | 51 |
Polish | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Russian | 6 | 4 | 5 | 15 |
Ukrainian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Estonian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
German | 16 | 4 | 3 | 23 |
French | 96 | 28 | 22 | 146 |
Pashto | 48 | 42 | 8 | 98 |
Dari | 30 | 4 | 8 | 42 |
Farsi | 21 | 12 | 6 | 39 |
Spanish | 21 | 11 | 15 | 47 |
Total | 270 | 123 | 71 | 464 |