Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to respond to the correspondence addressed to her predecessor dated 25 August 2021 from the Hon. Member for Enfield North on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, following the takeover of that country by the Taliban, reference FC10315.

Supporting education for children, and particularly girls, in Afghanistan, is a priority for the government. We continue to work with the international community to secure women's and girls' rights, including the right to education and jobs and to participate in public life. During the evacuation Operation Pitting alone, the FCDO received over 240,000 emails. Along with the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence we are working to assess all cases as quickly as possible. All 30,000 emails received from MPs on Afghanistan before 11 September have been processed and a response has been issued to the letter sent by the Hon Member on 25 August.