Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to allocate increased funding to local women and girl-led organisations that play a leadership role in responding to humanitarian crises.

The UK knows that Women's Rights Organisations and women-led civil society are critical to achieving lasting transformation in women's and girls' rights. This is recognised in the Integrated Review which specifically commits the UK to promote gender equality by "working with women's rights organisations". The UK continues to promote the rights of women and girls including in humanitarian crises and emergencies, through our commitments made under our G7 Presidency, where we galvanised international action through the G7's first ever Compact on famine prevention and humanitarian crises, committing G7 nations to supporting women and girls in such contexts.

Last week I announced more than £20 million of new funding to help stop violence against women and girls around the world, including a £3 million boost to fund women's rights organisations on the frontline, to tackle this issue through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, bringing our total contribution to £25 million since 2014. In addition our latest Spending Review showed, we will increase aid funding for our highest priorities, including support for women and girls.