Hansard

Armed Forces: Languages

Volume 717: debated on Tuesday 2 March 2010

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Questions

Asked by

Lord Astor of Hever

To ask Her Majesty's Government what incentives are in place to increase the number of Pashtun speakers serving in HM Armed Forces. [HL2231]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what incentives are in place to increase the number of Dari Persian speakers serving in HM Armed Forces. [HL2235]

The Minister for International Defence and Security
(Baroness Taylor of Bolton)

Both Pashto and Dari are mandated operational languages, entitling Armed Forces linguists with current language skills, confirmed by means of MoD Languages Examinations Board (MODLEB) examinations, to financial awards under the Defence Operational Languages Award Scheme (DOLAS).

DOLAS was implemented on 1 December 2009 to replace the previous Pilot Operational Languages Award Scheme (POLAS) which ran from 1 October 2005 to 30 November 2009.