Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many projects funded through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund in 2017-18 were escalated to Ministers for approval after an Overseas Security and Justice Assistance Guidance assessment concluded that they posed potential human rights risks.

Further details of where the Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) operates and information on our programmes will be published in the CSSF Annual Report on .gov.uk, due to be released next month. The report will also detail department, regional and thematic spend for financial year 17/18.

The Government’s Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) guidance is designed to ensure that our assistance meets the UK’s human rights obligations and values and our policy is to apply it to all relevant programming. OSJA assessments are part of the wider risk management arrangements in place for CSSF-funded projects. OSJAs are live documents and are regularly updated. The OSJA guidance directs staff as to when Ministers would need to approve programming.

177 FY 2017/18 CSSF projects are registered as having completed an OSJA. The Government will provide further information on the implementation of the updated OSJA guidance in the FCO’s next Annual Human Rights Report. This will include an estimate of the number of OSJA assessments carried out during the previous financial year and a quantitative analysis of their geographical use. It will also summarise steps taken to implement the OSJA guidance across Government.