Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that gender equality is mainstreamed in the International Development Strategy.

The Foreign Secretary has publicly committed to put women and girls at the heart of foreign and development policy and this is also evident in the newly published International Development Strategy. Our new approach is framed around three Es and will be set out in full in the UK's 2022 Women and Girls Strategy. We will: Educate girls, standing up for the right of every girl to 12 years of quality education; Empower women and girls, unlocking the social, economic and political agency of all people; and End Violence, driving international action to end all forms of gender-based violence. We will mainstream action on gender which means addressing the root causes of gender inequality in all our work. As referenced in the International Development Strategy, the UK International Development Act (Gender Equality) 2014 makes it a legal requirement for the UK to consider gender equality in all its Official Development Assistance work.