Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

House of Lords written question – answered at on 17 July 2013.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale Labour

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which activities will be covered under the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund; at what interval those activities will be reported to Parliament; and how the breakdown in spending will be reported to Parliament.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund will support the Building Stability Overseas Strategy.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund will contribute to upstream conflict prevention.

Photo of Baroness Northover Baroness Northover Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip), Lords Spokesperson (Department for International Development)

The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) will become operational in Financial Year 2015-16 with a budget of £1billion. The National Security Council will govern the CSSF, bringing a more strategic cross-Government approach to resource allocation to help prevent conflict and tackle the risks to UK interests that arise from instability overseas. It will bring together existing conflict resources

(the Conflict Pool and the Peacekeeping Budget) with additional resources from across Government.

The CSSF will build on the success of the Conflict Pool, a key resource for delivering the Building Stability Overseas Strategy, by bringing together defence, diplomatic, development, security and intelligence capabilities.

Details of agreed resource allocations and spending priorities will be notified to Parliament. The Cabinet Office is leading a cross-Government project to ensure the new fund and supporting structures implement the National Security Council’s priorities.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes3 people think so

No1 person thinks not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.

House of Lords

The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.

The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.

Cabinet

The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.

It is chaired by the prime minister.

The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.

Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.

However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.

War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.

From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.

The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.