Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 41
41
Deferred
Paragraph: 131
Assess CPTPP provisions supporting business mobility alongside existing bilateral agreements with Indo-Pacific countries.
Recommendation
The Government should assess Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) provisions supporting business mobility alongside existing commitments in bilateral agreements with countries in the Indo-Pacific such as the FTAs with Australia and New Zealand.
Government Response Summary
The government partially agrees but addresses its FCDO language learning system for speaker slots and staff development in the Indo-Pacific region, which is unrelated to assessing CPTPP business mobility provisions.
Paragraph Reference:
131
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
42. The Government partially agrees with the recommendation. The FCDO already operates a flexible language learning system for speaker slots in the Indo-Pacific region which is Directorate- and Post-guided. Our target is for 80% of speaker slots to be filled by a speaker with a valid C1 / C2 language exam pass. Post rotation length is based on a set of criteria reflecting circumstances at post. Focusing only on the language requirement would impact FCDO ability to fill speaker slots. Through operational language teaching for those at posts not in speaker slots and developmental language training in the FCDO’s priority languages, including Mandarin and Japanese, for UK-based staff, the FCDO develops its language capability.