The UK recognises that women and girls from religious or belief minority communities can suffer disproportionally because of both their gender and faith- as addressed, for example, in the answer provided on 24 June in response to Question 9814 on the treatment of women from religious minorities in Afghanistan - and we routinely take these factors into account when drawing up our programmes to uphold human rights in different countries. The Department's next report on human rights will be published later this year, covering the period since the current Government came to office, including our work on freedom of religion or belief.

The UK continues to champion Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all, and we continue to recognise the issue of persecution of Christians globally on account of their faith, alongside the persecution of other groups. We also recognise that women and girls may face heightened and overlapping risks of persecution or violence where religious discrimination intersects with gender-based inequality, including in contexts where women's rights and freedoms are systematically restricted, such as Afghanistan.

Last July, the UK Special Envoy for FoRB, David Smith MP, publicly set out the Government's approach to FoRB, providing a framework for UK engagement. Within this framework, we identified Afghanistan as one of ten focus countries for work on the issue. As part of this strategy, the UK continues to highlight FoRB violations on the international stage, through our position at the UN, G7, and as an active member of the Article 18 Alliance.

The UK continues to work closely with our international partners to maintain a relentless assault on the organisation, financing, recruitment and terrorist activities of Daesh in all regions where they or their affiliates are operating. In June, UK officials took part in the latest small group meeting of the Global Coalition, hosted by the Spanish government, where these collective efforts were discussed. The official statement emerging from that meeting can be found here: https://theglobalcoalition.org/en/meeting-of-the-global-coalition-to-defeat-isis-small-group/.

It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on operational security matters or specific cases. However, all visa applications are subject to comprehensive security checks and we maximise the use of upstream interventions to prevent people who pose a threat to the UK from being able to travel.

UK Defence and Security Exports have 24 members of staff working in the regional team that covers (a) Europe, (b) Middle East, (c) Central Asia.

3 members of staff work on d) South Asia which is now in a different team

The FCDO's International Women and Girls Strategy commits to at least 80 percent of the FCDO's bilateral aid programmes to have a focus on gender equality by 2030. In Central Asia, the FCDO is taking a twin-track approach via targeted programming and mainstreaming gender equality. FCDO programmes are transforming attitudes, tackling gender-based violence and promoting women's economic empowerment. We work closely with governments, communities and civil society and use research to ensure our interventions achieve impact. To date, we have created 1,302 new jobs for women and capacitated 1,549 service providers to prevent and respond to gender-based violence across Central Asia.

We are aware of growing Chinese investment in the Caspian Sea region. The UK recognises that China is an important source of aid, trade and investment for many countries, and has become a dominant player in Iran's economy. The 25 Year Strategic Cooperation Agreement from March 2021 is reported to include Chinese investment in Iran across areas such as oil production and surveillance technology. However, the relationship is unbalanced: only 0.25% of Chinese trade output heads to Iran, whereas China makes up almost 25% of Iran's total trade.

We regularly engage on climate change and reducing emissions in Central Asia, both bilaterally and through multilateral fora. For example, during his visit to Astana in March the Foreign Secretary signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan to encourage collaboration in developing and applying hydrogen technology. The Minister for Europe has also raised climate issues in meetings with interlocutors from Central Asia, and we have dedicated officials based in the region who lead on climate and environmental matters for the UK. We provide funding to a number of projects in the region which aim to improve climate cooperation and reduce the emissions produced by the Central Asian states.

We regularly engage on climate change and reducing emissions in Central Asia, both bilaterally and through multilateral fora. For example, during his visit to Astana in March the Foreign Secretary signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan to encourage collaboration in developing and applying hydrogen technology. The Minister for Europe has also raised climate issues in meetings with interlocutors from Central Asia, and we have dedicated officials based in the region who lead on climate and environmental matters for the UK. We provide funding to a number of projects in the region which aim to improve climate cooperation, and reduce the emissions produced by the Central Asian states.