Note:
(a) The report cites
Learning to Grow: What employers need from education and skills; Education and Skills Survey 2012. CBI, June 2012. http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/1514 ... lls_survey_2012.pdf
(Chapter 12 Communication means business: "UK has the worst foreign language proficiency in Europe." At page 57: Exhibit 64 Foreign languages rated as useful to the organization (%): Mandarin(translated as 汉语 in the BBC report); Chosen by 3% of organizations polled, Korean is No 11, behind Portuguese)
(b) For CBI, see Confederation of British Industry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_of_British_Industry