Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has been made of the effectiveness of Police Scotland's training programme in Sri Lanka in reducing instances of torture and human rights violations.

The UK's police training programme has focused on developing community policing, supporting women in the Sri Lankan police service, and improving the response to sexual and gender-based violence. The UK's programme work in Sri Lanka is subject to regular and robust Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) assessments that analyse the potential human rights, international humanitarian law, political and reputational risks of any proposed assistance to ensure that it supports our values and is consistent with our domestic and international human rights obligations. The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) programme in Sri Lanka is also subject to an annual review, which can be found by visiting https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-3-CSSF-09-000003/documents