Speeches by Law.

“Ministers, when do you expect there to be an update to the UK women, peace and security national action plan?”

“If there is that consistency, why is it that we are looking to refresh the strategy now, ahead of the current strategy period end in 2027?”

“I have a further question on accountability. The UK has faced criticism for not taking stronger stances across multilateral platforms like the ICJ. How would you respond to some of those criticisms, particularly in the context of women, peace and security?”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps you can fully rebut some of these points on the record. What has been lost in these challenging times in terms of what we have been able to do to support women and girls in Afghanistan?”

“Cosmetic.”

“Are you feeling that where you are driving through the middle some of that is cosmetic, in your view, or does it affect the nature of the agenda and the people you can reach in doing this work?”

“Would you consider providing a draft copy of that work to the Committee for comment in confidence, if possible?”

“Given the recent further estimates putting the total cost of the war in Ukraine to the European economy at north of $1 billion a year, while the total allied commitment to Ukraine remains at about $100 billion a year, does the Secretary of State agree that we cannot but afford to go further in our support for our Ukrai…”

“As we have discussed, the FCDO’s ODA share has been reducing in recent years with the swing towards multilateral spending. Given that, do you think the Department still has enough control over how the budget is spent?”

“I will touch on this now because I don’t think it will come up later in the session: the elephant in the room is that shift from bilateral to multilateral programmes that keeps re-occurring. I find it a bit strange to use the northern Nigeria example and in the same breath make an argument for scaled multilateral progr…”

“Cornish communities and small and medium-sized enterprises in the supply chains of Cornwall’s most promising industries alike will have been delighted by the Chancellor’s announcement of the Kernow industrial growth fund in the recent Budget. Does the Chief Secretary to the Treasury agree that those funds should be inv…”

“Okay, that is clear. With regard to spending by other Departments, Nick, have you made representations to those other Departments on making sure that unspent money comes back to the FCDO?”

“Very briefly, have you noticed the difference in incentives since the change in the FCDO’s status as saver and spender of last resort?”

“That is a very welcome step forward, but regarding some of those excess profits, particularly in asylum hotels, are there any attempts to claw back any of that and use the proceeds to increase spending abroad? What more can be done, beyond that move from your being saver and spender of last resort?”

“Should BII raise debt? If so, would that affect FCDO’s relationship with the organisation?”

“Do you think it is taking enough risk?”

“Coming back to the return, it reflects a reasonably cautious approach in the past from BII, or at least one that is designed, even with different strategies, to yield a positive return overall. What assessment have you made of the impact of that approach on BII being able to get investment into some of the poorest coun…”

“Okay. It is just strange, at a time when the fiscal rules have changed and all this capital has been released, that that has not filtered through. What are the reasons for that?”

“I apologise; I probably sound like a broken record on this point every time we have you but, given the inherit bias towards capital spend across Departments—you can argue the toss whether that filters through to FCDO, because of the nature of the ODA cuts—why is that bias towards capital investment not feeding through …”