The UK welcomes the EU’s ongoing, and growing, commitment to supporting development in Africa. At the Valletta Summit, EU and African leaders made clear their shared determination to provide a comprehensive solution to irregular migration that deals with the root causes as well as responds to the consequences. To support these efforts the EU launched a £1.3billion Trust Fund to improve stability in Africa and tackle the drivers of migration, to which the UK announced a £2million direct contribution. Factoring in our contribution via other EU funds, the UK’s total contribution to the overall fund is approximately £187million. In total the EU will spend around €10billion in Africa between now and 2020 to help create jobs, security, better living standards and better governance. We believe that this increased assistance will play an important role in helping tackle the root causes of irregular migration.

Member States also contribute through bilateral funding, and the UK alone provides £4billion a year in aid to Africa. At Valletta the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), announced an additional £200 million package for Africa, which will help build more resilience to economic and environmental pressures; support those displaced by recent crises; and provide greater access to services, education and economic development programmes.

The agenda for November’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has yet to be announced by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the hosts, the Government of Malta. On 22 July in Valletta, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), discussed the agenda for the meeting with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of Malta.

The UK is committed to strengthening the Commonwealth’s focus on promoting democratic values and development. We are engaging with Maltese and other partners to ensure a successful CHOGM produces tangible outcomes that make best use of the Commonwealth’s global networks.

The British Government conducts periodic strategic reviews of countries and thematic issues that affect UK interests and how we respond to them. Some of these global issues will generate medium and long term migrant flows, within and between regions around the World. These trends are extremely unpredictable and therefore difficult to forecast. The size and composition of migrant flows can also vary dramatically over time, given the large range of factors driving migration.

We do, however, seek to identify and address the root causes. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s long term security and prosperity agendas aim to help create the right conditions for growth, security and stability, and the Department for International Development’s developmental and humanitarian assistance help provide the stable conditions that allow people to remain in their homelands.

Furthermore, we have established a new, more strategic approach to work in conflict-affected states where the UK has key interests, with a £1 billion Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. It will help ensure our work in fragile or conflict-affected states supports the full range of UK objectives.