Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to to ensure the safety of aid workers and diplomats in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

All FCDO staff undertake specialist safety training before deployment and are provided with regular security briefs at post on common threats, risks areas, and how to stay safe. The British Embassy has a highly professional and trained guard force based at the Embassy 24/7; a dedicated security provider who acts as first responders to incidents; and a communications alert system. It also security assesses all staff accommodation. A rigorous risk assessment is carried out prior to any field visits for staff and they travel in armoured vehicles where necessary.

We conduct thorough due diligence assessments of our implementing partners including their risk mitigation capabilities. We share urgent security information and best practice, and provide training sessions to ensure they have risk mitigations in place to safeguard their staff.