Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department consulted the Sub-Saharan Africa National Security Strategy Implementation Group and Whitehall Africa Group on the deployment of UK armed forces to the UN mission in Mali.

The Sub-Saharan Africa National Security Strategy Implementation Group and Whitehall Africa Group were consulted throughout the policy development process, and presented their recommendations to the National Security Council where the deployment of UK forces to the UN mission in Mali was considered.