Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on the individual project components of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund British Virgin Island Territory (BVITP) Programme.

​The aim of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) British Virgin Island Territory Programme (BVITP) is to support the Government of the Virgin Islands to ensure the successful long-term recovery and development of the British Virgin Islands, following the hurricanes of 2017.

The initial focus of the BVITP is to support the set-up and operation of the Virgin Islands Recovery and Development Agency (RDA), enabling the RDA to attract investment and successfully deliver the Recovery to Development Plan of the British Virgin Islands Government (BVIG) in accordance with principles of accountability, transparency and good governance. The BVITP also directly supports the transition of early recovery projects into the long-term recovery plan as well as the implementation of priority activity from the Recovery to Development Plan in areas that are key enablers for the recovery process and constitutional responsibilities of the Governor. These include robust disaster preparedness, support to improve good governance in the recovery structures and strengthened justice and security.

Good progress is being made on all components of the BVITP: the RDA has been established and is now delivering projects from Phase One of the Recovery to Development Plan. A number of priority security and justice and disaster preparedness projects have been directly supported and are either complete or expected to complete to schedule. The majority of early recovery activity supported by BVITP has now been completed and incorporated into the BVIG's long-term recovery plan. All of the activity has been undertaken in partnership with the Government of the Virgin Islands.

A full assessment, with contributions by all UK Government departments involved in the CSSF programme in the British Virgin Islands will be made on completion of the programme in 2021.