Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question 249954, if the Government will publish the recommendations of the Joint Funds Unit audit of Overseas Security and Justice Assistance; what steps have been taken in response to the recommendations of that audit; who was responsible for conducting that audit; and what the cost was to the public purse of that audit.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office lead HMG policy on the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) Guidance. The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm seriously. At the direction of the Joint Funds Unit (JFU), the Stabilisation Unit (SU) commissioned Palladium, a SU provider, to undertake an audit of OSJAs across CSSF programmes, at a cost of £31,801.64.

The audit showed that the majority of programme teams have a good understanding of the human rights risks their programmes are operating in, and a realistic view of the extent to which risks can be mitigated. The audit’s findings also highlighted areas where the process could be improved.

In response to the audit’s recommendations, the JFU is updating CSSF programmatic guidance and the Stabilisation Unit is also updating its core security and justice training for HMG staff to align with the revised guidance.

As the Government stated in its response to Question 249954, there are no plans to publish the OSJA audit.