Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Government’s goal of ensuring 12 years of quality education for every girl and boy, what steps he has taken to help remove barriers to education, including ending all forms of violence against children, ahead of the G7 Summit.

We are using our G7 presidency to encourage the safe return of all children to school by rallying the international community to get behind two ambitious global targets on access and learning. Tackling the complex barriers to education will be key to achieving these.

We are committed to ending all forms of violence against children. The UK is a founding Board member of, and has been the largest donor to, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. The partnership is driving the international movement to deliver Sustainable Development Goal 16.2. We are also in the process of developing a new flagship programme, What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale, to pioneer new solutions in tackling the high rates of violence against girls, which we know are a key barrier to girls accessing education.