Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent events in Tunisia, what re-appraisal they have made of their strategy to take on board the lessons of the Arab spring, set out in the Building Stability Overseas Strategy, with regard to (1) early warning, (2) rapid crisis prevention and response, and (3) investing in upstream prevention.

Early warning systems and policies aimed at building stability overseas are continually under review to enable the British Government to respond more rapidly and more effectively to new cases of conflict and instability.

Upstream prevention remains at the heart of the Government’s approach to fragile and unstable countries and regions. UK conflict funding for 2015/16 for the Middle East / North Africa region was increased substantially to respond to conflict drivers in the region.

Government work in the Middle East and North Africa includes programmes on countering violent extremism, strengthening border management, and improving the effectiveness of our partner’s domestic counter-terrorism work.