The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-05-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many British Ambassadors based in the Middle East and North Africa (1) speak Arabic, and (2) are able to conduct official business in Arabic.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to the noble Viscount Waverley on 28 April 2016 (HL7839), namely that, in the Middle East and North Africa region approximately 95 per cent of our Heads of Mission speak Arabic or other local languages (e.g. French or Hebrew).