To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will upgrade to a mandatory target the current benchmark that 50 to 90 per cent of pupils should study a language until the end of key stage 4, in line with the recommendation of the Worton Review. [HL1745]

We have no plans to do so. We are considering a range of policies for boosting take up at key stage 4. Our focus is on making learning more engaging to encourage increased take up. We made languages optional in 2004 to give young people more choice and flexibility, in particular for work-related and vocational learning. Setting a mandatory target for language learning would make the curriculum at this level less flexible.