To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many members of his Department's staff deployed in each region of Iraq (a) have been trained in each year since 2001 and (b) are being trained in each local Iraqi language. (283521)

Records of language training carried out since 2001 have not been retained. Currently two Department for International Development (DFID) officials in Baghdad are taking part-time Arabic language classes.

There are also three Arabic-speaking Iraqi nationals working for DFID in Baghdad. In Basra, DFID employs two Arabic-speaking Iraqi nationals, and one further is being recruited.

DFID has employed over 40 Arabic-speaking Iraqi nationals in Iraq since 2001.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many members of his Department's staff deployed in each region of Afghanistan (a) have been trained in each year since 2001 and (b) are being trained in each local Afghan language. (283520)

The Department for International Development (DFID) does not keep records of how many people have been trained in Afghan languages since 2001. Such training is frequently informal or organised privately by the individuals concerned.

DFID currently has seven UK-based staff members working in Kabul currently learning Dari, the official language of Afghanistan alongside Pashtu. In addition, we employ 16 locally engaged staff who are native Dari/Pashtu speakers in Kabul and one in Lashkar Gah. We also have access to Afghan translators for both languages in both Kabul and Lashkar Gah.

DFID provides over 95 per cent. of the funding for the cross-departmental Stabilisation Unit. It has 18 Pashtu and 21 Dari speakers on its database of deployable civilian experts. Two Pashtu speakers are currently deployed in Helmand.