Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has to leverage (a) education and (b) research expertise to achieve his Department's development objectives.

Global education is critical to our vision for a world free from poverty on a liveable planet. Each additional year of learning is associated with a 10 per cent increase in earnings annually. There is, however, a lack of evidence in education to inform cost-effective and equitable decision making on education delivery in low- and middle-income contexts. The UK is therefore funding education research to address evidence gaps, with seven research programmes covering over 25 countries. Our Scaling Learning and Access in Education programme draws on rigorous evidence, including the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel's Education Smart Buys. This includes supporting the scale-up of evidence-based interventions focused on management expertise, teacher training and in-class support to ensure high quality teaching and learning, and better access for vulnerable children. It will also contribute to the evidence base through rigorous test-learn-adapt pilots in a selection of low- and lower middle-income countries.