Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a centralised system for recording Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessments.

The Overseas Security and Justice Assistance Assessments (OSJAs) are designed to aid and reform the decision making process for particular overseas projects or programmes of a security or justice nature. There are no certain merits in introducing a centralised system for recording OSJA assessments. Organisations responsible for delivering a particular activity must draft, maintain and file the OSJA assessments. Overseas Posts are responsible for maintaining the in-country stage 1 assessments in countries where HMG is regularly providing security and justice assistance. OSJAs pertaining to ongoing activity should be regularly updated, particularly when there are changes in strategic context or incidents serious enough to warrant reassessment. There is a benefit in taking a consistent approach across HMG, but this is dealt with by the knowledge of posts in particular areas, as well as a network of OSJA Leads in each department or organisation involved in security and justice assistance.