Written question asked by Imran Hussain (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 April 2023, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 April 2023. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 April 2023 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Development Aid: Basic Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterparts in other high-income countries on investing a higher proportion of Official Development Assistance in foundational literacy and numeracy programmes.

Answer: FCDO and likeminded education partners have come together to promote a shared commitment to improving foundational learning for all. At the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, countries and organisations were invited to endorse a Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning. This aims to build a global coalition of education partners collaborating on foundational learning. The UK is also asking the G7 and G20 to focus on foundational learning, including by prioritising more global Official Development Assistance (ODA) for education. This builds on our 2021 G7 Presidency, where we secured G7 support for two Global Objectives on girls' access and foundational learning objectives.

Secondary information