Armed Forces: Languages

Dr. Fox
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British military personnel have received training in the (a) Farsi or Dari, (b) Arabic, (c) Urdu and (d) Pashto languages in each year since 2007.

Mr. Bob Ainsworth
The information is not held in the format requested. The numbers of exams taken in the years 2007-09, however, are as follows:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                           |Total|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Arabic                                                                     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2006-07                                                                    |329  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2007-08                                                                    |230  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2008-091                                                                   |195  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                           |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Dari/Farsi                                                                 |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2006-07                                                                    |103  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2007-08                                                                    |84   |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2008-09                                                                    |91   |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                           |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Pashtu                                                                     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2006-07                                                                    |160  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2007-08                                                                    |188  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2008-09                                                                    |209  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                           |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Urdu                                                                       |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2006-07                                                                    |3    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2007-08                                                                    |6    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2008-09                                                                    |9    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|1 Figures for 2008-09 are to date as the training year is not yet complete.|     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------