Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department provides to local (a) councils and (b) governance structures overseas through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

The cross-Government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), working to the direction of the National Security Council, supports efforts to tackle fragility in over 70 conflict-affected countries. Details of programmes are available via the CSSF's programme and annual review summaries: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/conflict-stability-and-security-fund-cssf. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is a delivery Department, undertaking a range of programming, the majority of which involves work with local governance structures, including local council equivalents. For example, in Iraq programmes support governorates to improve service delivery to citizens; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, programming is improving local-level security and justice institutions; and in Pakistan we are building more inclusive parliamentary processes.