Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he will take to ensure the Disability Inclusion Strategy and Strategic Vision for Gender Equality frameworks are embedded and implemented in the work of the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Advancing gender equality and women's rights are a core part of this Government's mission, and vital to fulfilling every girl's right to 12 years of quality education. This government is committed to supporting a long-term movement for change on the neglected global issue of disability inclusion. The Government remains steadfast in its commitment to these agendas.

The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy is expected to conclude later in the year, and will define the Government's ambition for the UK's role in the world. The Integrated Review's outcomes will shape the objectives of the FCDO. Both the Review and the merger are evidence of the Prime Minister's commitment to a unified British foreign and development policy that will maximise our influence around the world, including on disability and gender equality.

As part of the merger discussions, we will review, refresh, and build on all existing strategies, as well as developing new approaches where appropriate. We do not see the core ambitions of the Department For International Department's Strategic Vision for Gender Equality or Disability Inclusion Strategy changing. The challenges for the advancement of girls' education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, women's political empowerment, women's economic empowerment, ending violence against women and girls, and supporting people with disabilities are as acute now, if not more so, as when the strategy was published in 2018.