Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports his Department has received on the situation of the kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria; and if he will make a statement.

The UK continues to support the Nigerian authorities in trying to establish the location of the abducted schoolgirls. We provide surveillance assets, in the form of RAF Tornados, to assist in the search and expertise to assist in intelligence analysis. The resolve of Nigeria, the UK and international community to continue the search remains strong.

On 3 September I led the UK delegation to the ministerial meeting in Abuja on security in Nigeria, attended by Nigeria’s neighbours and international partners. I emphasised the crucial importance of regional coordination to locating the girls taken from Chibok and to defeating Boko Haram.