Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help support international collaboration to ban FGM in other countries.

The UK has a proud record in supporting and accelerating the Africa-led movement to end FGM for which international collaboration is central. Building on a successful first five-year phase (2013-2018), the UK is funding the next phase of our support for the Africa-led movement. This includes funding to the United Nations to get laws and policies in place banning FGM, as part of a multi-year UKaid package working with communities, activists and grassroots organisations, reinforced by global, national and local advocacy and communications to break taboos, promote discussion and amplify changing social attitudes. Through the World Health Organisation the UK has also supported doctors, midwives and nurses to help end FGM and care for survivors, and in Sudan UK aid has driven trailblazing community engagement and national advocacy efforts. Since 2013, UK aid programmes have helped over 10,000 communities, representing over 27 million people, pledge to abandon FGM.