Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting up a Youth Advisory Council in his Department to consult children and young people in policy development.

The UK Government is committed to the promotion, protection and realisation of children's rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We see meaningfully engaging with children and young people as a core part of this. For example, in 2022, my predecessor, Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP convened a roundtable with young people from conflict-affected countries to hear directly from their experience of crisis response. In May 2023, senior officials met with seven adolescent girls from around the world to discuss a range of key challenges in their contexts and their perspectives on best practice for consulting children. The Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Girls' Education, Helen Grant MP, prioritises meetings with young people whilst overseas, and recently travelled to Ethiopia to meet children and young people supported by UK programmes.