The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
…
“With 40
classrooms we have space here to train up to 1,000 full and
part‑time
language
students over the course of 12 months, in up to 80 different
languages
from Arabic
to Zulu. We will be offering 70,000 hours of teaching each year,
not
just for
the men and women of the Foreign Office, but to those of other
government
departments
if they wish to take advantage of our services.
…
“So we are
also increasing the number of jobs overseas for which language
skills
are
required in key parts of our overseas network. We’ve brought in a
20 percent
increase in
the number of posts for speakers of Latin American Spanish,
Portuguese
and Arabic,
and a 40 percent increase in the number of Mandarin
speakers.” 432
661.
In his speech,
Mr Hague described the new language facility as just one
part
of “the
biggest drive to enhance the diplomatic skills of the Foreign
Office that the
department
has ever seen”. A stronger culture of learning and expertise was
part of
a “quiet
revolution” that included “a greater emphasis on history and the
retention and
sharing of
knowledge and expertise”. Changes included moving the FCO’s
historians
“back into
the heart of the Foreign Office” and attaching greater importance
to the work
of Research
Analysts.
662.
The British
Academy welcomed the opening of the new FCO language school,
but
warned that
significant work was needed to embed the changes and reverse the
decline.433
663.
By November
2003, the UK military was also facing a shortage of Arabic
speakers
664.
The Chiefs of
Staff raised the shortfall in the number of linguists available at
their
meeting on
16 July 2003.435
General
Sir Michael Walker, Chief of the Defence Staff,
directed
Lieutenant General Robert Fry, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff
(Commitments),
to
establish the exact requirement and where the linguists might be
found.
665.
In December
2003, MOD officials informed Lt Gen Fry that, in addition to
“tactical
linguist
requirements” in military units, Op TELIC had a requirement for 39
linguists on
six‑month
deployments.436
By November
2003, officials expected that requirement would
last three
to four years.
432
Foreign
& Commonwealth Office and the Rt Hon William Hague MP
[from GOV.UK], 19
September
2013,
Foreign
Secretary opens Foreign Office language school.
433
British
Academy, Lost for
Words: The Need for Languages in UK Diplomacy and
Security,
November
2013.
434
Minute
ACDS(Ops) to All TLB Holders, 19 November 2003, ‘Provision of
Arabic Interpreters for
Op TELIC’.
435
Minutes, 16
July 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.
436
Minute
DJtCts‑DCMCDACSO1 to DCDS(C), 3 December 2003, ‘Op TELIC –
Augmentation of
Linguists’.
358