Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK-funded educational material and teachers supported by UK aid do not promote violence in their teachings to (a) the Palestinian Authority and (b) other countries receiving aid.

The UK does not fund textbooks in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. UK Aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) helps to ensure it can deliver essential services, including by the contributing to the salaries of vetted education and healthcare professionals in the West Bank. We have regularly raised our concerns about allegations of incitement in Palestinian textbooks, which the Foreign Secretary did most recently with the PA on 25 August. We have also lobbied our European partners to conduct an independent review of Palestinian textbooks, which is currently underway.

In 2019 we undertook an assurance check on contentious education materials for our education programmes and were satisfied that risks are being effectively managed.