Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to recommendation two of the Government’s Capability Review of the Cross Government Funds, published on 28 March 2018, what progress his Department has made on making public the versions of national security strategies for priority countries.

In the National Security Capability Review the Government introduced the Fusion Doctrine, in order to strengthen HMG’s collective approach to national security. It introduced a new system of senior officials as Senior Responsible Owners, each responsible for developing strategies to deliver NSC priorities via cross-departmental National Security Strategy Implementation Groups (NSSIG).

The Joint Funds Unit and the National Security Secretariat are currently working with teams to develop a suitable approach to the publication of the strategies that underpin NSC priorities and clearly link how cross-Government funds are used to support NSC priorities. At the next National Security Council Sub-Committee for the Joint Funds (the Prosperity Fund and the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund) Ministers will agree the approach, and departments will work together on creating these documents for publication.

For transparency purposes, programme documents are published annually, for the CSSF, which outline the national security objectives that each programme work towards.