Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason the UK opposed advancing discussions on a new optional protocol on free education at the Intergovernmental Working Group on Free Education in September 2025; and whether she plans to review that decision.

The UK is committed to investing in children and promoting equal access to education. The UK already provides free primary and secondary education and has been supporting partners globally to deliver education for all. We challenged the need for a new optional protocol as free secondary education is already provided for under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. States Parties to these treaties should already be providing free education.

We do not believe the resources required to develop a new treaty solely on free pre-primary education are justified when they could otherwise be used to implement existing international obligations.

This position is in line with several UN entities, including United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the leading actor on child rights with a global presence and understanding of lived realities.