Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-03-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff in each of the armed services work at the level of interpreter in each language.
Earl Howe
The Armed Services recognise 48 languages for which they declare a capability. The Joint Arms Control Implementation Group is the only unit which employs personnel in the direct role of interpreter. Across the Armed Services a total of 697 personnel are recorded as holding a level of language qualification and currency that is functional or above. These are broken down as follows:
|
Army |
RAF |
Royal Marines |
Royal Navy |
Total |
|
|
Functional |
160 |
56 |
17 |
31 |
264 |
|
Professional |
191 |
52 |
17 |
41 |
301 |
|
Expert |
85 |
27 |
5 |
15 |
132 |
|
Total |
436 |
135 |
39 |
87 |
697 |
The number of languages that Ministry of Defence (MOD) employees could conceivably need to converse in is extremely broad. The MOD employs professional interpreters for more niche languages and has robust strategies in place to ensure the quality of contractors’ interpretation skills.
