Written question asked by Seema Malhotra (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 May 2024, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 May 2024. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Thursday, 9 May 2024 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Development Aid: Education

Question: To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of UK Official Development Assistance spending on the resilience of primary and secondary school education in crisis-affected countries.

Answer: The FCDO supports resilient education systems through our investments through multilateral partners; bilateral programmes; and education policy influencing. This includes FCDO's position paper, 'Addressing the Climate, Environment, and Biodiversity Crises in and through Girls' Education' (2022), which provides a framework of priority actions to build resilient and climate smart school systems in the face of increasing extreme weather events. The UK recently pledged £80 million to Education Cannot Wait which supports education in crisis-affected countries, including those affected by natural and weather-related disasters. FCDO is also the second largest donor to the Global Partnership for Education, which spends over 60 percent of its funds in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Secondary information