Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to prepare for the 2019 Women Deliver Conference in Canada; and if her Department will increase future gender based violence prevention funding.

The UK is a proud supporter of women’s rights internationally. Women Deliver 2019 will be an important moment to rally global support for this agenda. We are currently in discussions with the organisers about how best the UK can engage. Far more needs to be done to combat the appalling levels of violence that women and girls experience every day around the world. The Department for International Development’s ground-breaking research into violence against women and girls has demonstrated that violence is preventable, and we are committed to using this evidence to scale up our work to prevent violence and to influence our international partners to do the same. That is why in November my Right Hon Friend the Secretary of State announced an additional £50m to tackle Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This was just the latest demonstration of the UK Government’s commitment to doing more to improve the lives of women and girls in all contexts. I also hope it will encourage other governments to step up and invest more in preventing violence against women and girls in all its forms.