Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect the National Security Council to shift the focus of the Building Stability Overseas Strategy from promoting longer-term peace and security initiatives to pursuing more immediate interventions based on national security imperatives.

The Government has a strong cross-departmental approach that draws on the most effective combination of defence, diplomacy, development assistance, security and intelligence to achieve the National Security Council's priorities and long-term goals on conflict, stability and security. The UK will continue to invest in upstream prevention in fragile countries to help develop strong, legitimate institutions capable of managing tensions so as to reduce the likelihood of instability and conflict, as well as being able to respond to more immediate developments. The new Conflict Stability and Security Fund will be a mix of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) and non-ODA resources which will allow for a range of interventions, including the security sector reform and peace keeping support which are crucial to building stability and paving the way for sustainable peace.