Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to make use of innovative financing mechanisms to support global education outcomes.

Generating more innovative finance is a priority for the UK to address the $97 billion annual financing gap for global education.

The UK is a founding donor to the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd). This innovative guarantee mechanism unlocks $7 in new concessional lending from Multilateral Development Banks, for every $1 of Official Development Assistance. In the start-up phase, IFFEd will unlock $1 billion.

The UK is also engaging with philanthropy and the private sector to channel more finance to education. Through our support to the Global Partnership for Education Multiplier, the UK has helped raise a further $3.7 billion from 64 co-financers across 52 partner countries since 2021.

In Sierra Leone and Ghana, we support the Education Outcomes Fund to mobilise impact investment to improve children's learning outcomes. In Kenya, we are testing disaster risk finance to protect school infrastructure, keeping children safe and learning when climate disasters hit.