Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to monitor the effectiveness of the commitments given by his Department during the Girls Summit 2014.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) committed to work in advance of the Summit to: secure high level overseas attendance, ensure that foreign governments make commitments to end female genital mutilation (FGM) and child, early and forced marriage (CEFM), and lobby countries to sign the Girl Summit Charter. The FCO engaged over 70 of its diplomatic missions, working closely with the Department for International Development. This resulted in over 800 participants attending the Summit from 50 countries, including over 30 ministers; 36 countries signing the Summit Charter so far; and commitments to action from nearly 150 governments, organisations and individuals to date.

The FCO is committed to building on the success of the Summit and will continue to lobby more states to sign the Charter and to continue to make commitments to end FGM and CEFM.