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 (a) help tackle (i) child labour, (ii) child marriage, (iii) malnutrition and (iv) other barriers to education and (b) improve (A) access to education and (B) learning outcomes in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Addressing barriers to education is an FCDO priority. When learning outcomes are poor, lower value is placed on education and girls are more likely to drop out of school. This can lead to child marriage or child labour. We have invested in research programmes to understand how best to tackle learning poverty, including links to nutrition. The UK is also a leading donor to Education Cannot Wait. ECW supports conflict or crises-affected children - the largest group of out-of-school children facing increased risk of exploitation. Through UK support since 2017 ECW has reached seven million children in over 30 countries.