Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the budget for the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) in (1) 2016, and (2) 2017; what is the current budget; and how PSVI work has been organised within the Foreign and Commonwealth Unit since July 2016.

In the financial year 2016-17, £2,969,379 of policy programme funds from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office core budget were spent on the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI). In that financial year, a further £8,056,685 was spent from the cross-Government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) on our wider work on Gender, Peace and Security, including work to further the PSVI. In the current financial year, 2017-18, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office policy programme fund allocation for PSVI work is £2,463,466. An additional £7,435,423 has been allocated from the cross-Government CSSF on Gender, Peace and Security.

PSVI work is handled by the PSVI Team, which sits within the Gender Equality Unit (GEU). The GEU was formed on 9 October 2017, bringing together the four officials who since July 2016 had worked on PSVI, with other colleagues dealing with various aspects of gender equality, including Women, Peace and Security, other gender in conflict issues, women’s rights and LGBT rights, but who until then had been working in different FCO Departments. Officials in GEU now work closely together to ensure a coherent approach to gender equality, responding flexibly to emerging requirements, to deliver a foreign policy which consciously and consistently delivers for women and girls around the world.