Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Education will be representing HM Government at the meeting in Fiji of Commonwealth Education Ministers in mid February in preparation for the Commonwealth Summit in April 2018 in London; and whether the purpose of that meeting is to strengthen Commonwealth cooperation between universities and schools for the benefit of young people.

It has not yet been decided who will represent Her Majesty’s Government at the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers. However, we hope to confirm attendance shortly, subject to parliamentary business. The purpose of the Conference is to strengthen cooperation across the Commonwealth for the benefit of young people of all ages. A key objective of this year’s conference is to address and define mechanisms through which education systems across the Commonwealth can enable sustainable development, and address major global challenges, such as climate change. This is a topic, which is of importance to young people across all member states.