Counter-terrorism
(asked on 23rd June 2014) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on changes to funding for his Department's Counter Terrorism Directorate.
This question was answered on 26th June 2014
Keeping Britain and British nationals safe from terrorism is a top priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and we are fully committed to safeguarding the UK's national security. We constantly monitor and review our projects, programmes and diplomatic engagement, as our part of the wider Government efforts on counter-terrorism, to ensure our resources are having the maximum possible impact in the right places as the global security environment changes. The FCO Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF) is the main fund for terrorism-related assistance to foreign countries used by the FCO Counter Terrorism Department. This is complemented by other budgets used for counter-terrorism related activities and the tri-departmental (FCO, Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence) Conflict Pool, as I set out in my statement to the House on 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 9-12WS. CTPF has been reduced as we redirect FCO resources to where they can have the most impact, and move some programmes to other Government Departments who are better placed to carry out that work. It is not the case that important activities have ceased or are now under-funded. The FCO's work on counter-terrorism goes well beyond CTPF - it is at the heart of our diplomacy across our overseas network, particularly in areas of instability. We have, for example, recently: opened an Embassy in Mogadishu to support our work on stability and security in Somalia; brought together key players on Nigeria to secure much needed assistance to tackle the threat from Boko Haram; and continued our work to stop terrorists getting their hands on money to fund their activities, through leading efforts on disrupting financial flows from sources such as ‘Kidnap for Ransom'.
Keeping Britain and British nationals safe from terrorism is a top priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and we are fully committed to safeguarding the UK's national security. We constantly monitor and review our projects, programmes and diplomatic engagement, as our part of the wider Government efforts on counter-terrorism, to ensure our resources are having the maximum possible impact in the right places as the global security environment changes. The FCO Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF) is the main fund for terrorism-related assistance to foreign countries used by the FCO Counter Terrorism Department. This is complemented by other budgets used for counter-terrorism related activities and the tri-departmental (FCO, Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence) Conflict Pool, as I set out in my statement to the House on 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 9-12WS. CTPF has been reduced as we redirect FCO resources to where they can have the most impact, and move some programmes to other Government Departments who are better placed to carry out that work. It is not the case that important activities have ceased or are now under-funded. The FCO's work on counter-terrorism goes well beyond CTPF - it is at the heart of our diplomacy across our overseas network, particularly in areas of instability. We have, for example, recently: opened an Embassy in Mogadishu to support our work on stability and security in Somalia; brought together key players on Nigeria to secure much needed assistance to tackle the threat from Boko Haram; and continued our work to stop terrorists getting their hands on money to fund their activities, through leading efforts on disrupting financial flows from sources such as ‘Kidnap for Ransom'.