Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of a top-up of its pledge to the Global Partnership for Education to maximise prospects of the five billion dollar target being reached.

The UK is leading the way in the run-up to the Global Education Summit on 28-29 July. At the G7 Leaders' Summit, the Prime Minister announced the UK pledge of £430 million to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which is an uplift of 15% from the last financing period, and our largest ever contribution to GPE. This is also the largest bilateral pledge announced so far, and our co-host Kenya, we are urging other nations to step up their pledges to GPE.

This significant pledge meant that we were able to secure commitment from G7 partners of at least $2.7 billion to GPE ahead of the GES. At the Summit, we hope to secure up to $4 billion, which is 80% of GPE's 5-year target of $5 billion, and would be the single biggest ever boost to children's education opportunities around the world.