Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October to Question 101064, with reference to Save the Children's finding that the covid-19 pandemic has put 2.5 million girls at risk of child marriage and 1 million girls at risk of child pregnancy, what steps his Department is taking to prioritise the provision of safe education for girls in developing countries.

The need to support education, particularly girls' education, has never been greater. The UK is committed to a safe return to school for children around the world. We must support education systems to respond and ensure girls and the most vulnerable get back to school and catch up on lost learning.

The UK is the largest bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which has flexed £400 million to support education systems globally at this unprecedented time. The Prime Minister recently announced that next year the UK will co-host GPE's financing summit: this will be a crucial step towards achieving this Government's ambition of 12 years of quality education for every girl.

The UK is the largest donor to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies, and has provided an additional £5 million to reach the most vulnerable children in 33 countries during the pandemic. We announced £5.3 million of new UK funding to UNHCR to enable more than 5,000 teachers to provide vital education for children in 10 refugee-hosting countries up to early 2021. Bilaterally, we have adapted and reprioritised our education programmes in 18 countries to provide education and keep pupils safe.