Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of reports of schoolgirls being poisoned in (a) Iran and (b) Afghanistan.

Reports of poisonings of school girls in Afghanistan and Iran are disturbing. We, alongside our international partners, NGOs and the UN continue to monitor the reports. The Minister for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations Lord (Tariq) Ahmad has made clear that it is essential that all girls can exercise their human right to education without fear. We regularly press the Taliban on human rights priorities, including women's and girls' access to education. We continue to raise women and girls rights alongside broader human rights issues with Iran, at all appropriate opportunities.