Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the £4.85 million Integrated Security Fund Package referenced in a 2 December 2025 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office press release refers to the £4.85 million allocation for financial year 2025-26 for the Integrated Security Fund Gender and National Security Portfolio, as outlined in Parliament on 18 November 2025 by The Minister for Security.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

I confirm the £4.85 million referenced in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office press release of 2 December 2025 refers directly to the Integrated Security Fund allocation for the Gender and National Security portfolio. This forms part of the Fund’s overall allocation of £854.82 million in 2025/26.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of retaining the position of gender advisors, alongside standalone funding for Women, Peace and Security.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is currently working through detailed decisions on the organisational and resource changes arising from our FCDO2030 transformation programme. We will make further announcements in the coming months. In the interim, I would refer the Hon Member to the speech made by the Foreign Secretary on 24 November 2025, reiterating the Government's commitment to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/twenty-five-years-of-women-peace-and-security.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in which Directorate will the Women, Peace and Security and the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative sit within the new structure of the Foreign Office.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is currently working through detailed decisions on the organisational and resource changes arising from our FCDO2030 transformation programme. We will make further announcements in the coming months. In the interim, I would refer the Hon Member to the speech made by the Foreign Secretary on 24 November 2025, reiterating the Government's commitment to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/twenty-five-years-of-women-peace-and-security.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the growth of generative AI on creative jobs.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises that AI is transforming workplaces, demanding new skills and augmenting existing roles. The scale of future change remains uncertain. We are therefore planning against a range of plausible outcomes to ensure workers continue to have access to good, meaningful employment.

To aid this, the Government has launched the AI and the Future of Work Unit - a cross‑government function dedicated to ensuring AI delivers positive outcomes for the economy, jobs, and workers.

This Unit is designed to prepare the UK for AI-driven labour market transformation by researching and monitoring AI’s impact on the economic and labour market, to provide timely advice on when new policies should be implemented. For example, we have recently published an assessment of AI capabilities and their impact on the UK labour market evaluates trends in AI driven productivity gains and workforce exposure to AI.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what part of the allocated 2026-27 spend for the Integrated Security Fund will go towards the Gender and National Security Portfolio.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The decrease in the Integrated Security Fund’s (ISF) national security programming budget means that we need to focus resources on the highest priority threats to national security, as set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on 10 February. The Government has therefore taken the decision to close the standalone Gender and National Security (GNS) portfolio in 2026/27.

The ISF will continue to provide £0.8m each year to fund the Women, Peace and Security Helpdesk, which forms part of the GNS portfolio this year. The Helpdesk provides high-impact technical and advisory support to teams across Government, including the ISF. This supports delivery of gender-sensitive activity aligned to UK national security priorities.

Teams across government delivering ISF programming are also expected to continue to mainstream gender throughout their work, including through projects which specifically address gender and social inclusion.

They are also expected to monitor the gender and social inclusion impacts of their activity and in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty obligations, programmes will consider the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations across protected characteristics.

Rosebank oil field

Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan

Payment of employment tribunal awards

Gender apartheid

British couple detained in Iran

Civil service pension scheme

Situation of Kurdish people in Syria

New US sanctions on Cuba

Government response to Israel’s West Bank annexation plan

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Found: Israeli Settlements Abtisam Mohamed asked whether action was being taken to prevent UK-based businesses

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Found: and the Humber David Davis Walkley Primary School S6 2RZ Sheffield Yorkshire and the Humber Abtisam Mohamed

Found: and the Humber David Davis Walkley Primary School S6 2RZ Sheffield Yorkshire and the Humber Abtisam Mohamed