Recommendation 16

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted in Part

Government response to Recommendation 71: Partially Agree. 46. The WPS NAP is co-owned by the FCDO and the MOD and includes 7 government departments with commitments to the WPS agenda: FCDO, MOD, Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Northern Ireland Office, Northern Ireland Executive and Scottish Government. 47. The current WPS NAP has a robust governance structure in place to ensure coordination, accountability and transparency across government. This includes a series of working groups and boards, ranging from working level to senior official level, that aid meaningful engagement on commitments in the WPS NAP. 48. The Government is committed to ensuring the refreshed WPS NAP reinforces strong cross-government coordination, and we will review the current governance structure as part of the 2026 NAP Refresh. 49. In relation to Conclusion 63 being unclear how a smaller organisation with fewer resources and reduced capacity will be better able to deliver on WPS commitments – the Government is unwavering in its commitment and leadership in advancing the WPS agenda. It is a significant and welcome commitment that the Foreign Secretary has elevated Women and Girls as a FCDO core priority, championing their rights, safety and full participation, and driving global action against emerging tech enabled threats. 50. Part of the FCDO2030 transformation programme, the HQ restructure is a deliberate redesign of how we work: reducing duplication, improving coherence, and ensuring every part of the Department is focused on the UK’s strategic priorities. 51. The workforce numbers alone do not accurately reflect the changes taking place in the department. Some areas will see greater uplifts (e.g. digital) that will enable more efficiencies in other parts of the department. In some areas, a percentage reduction is actually about creating the right size for a team where there is sufficient resource in the network or duplication with another part of government. Throughout the process, priority work will continue and frontline capability will be protected. Monitoring and Evaluation Conclusion 85: The lack of an operational Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning framework is not a technical issue but a practical barrier to accountability, oversight, and outcome–focused programming. Current reporting risks being activity–driven rather than impact–driven, undermining efforts to improve the lives of women and girls in conflict affected contexts. Despite commitments in the National Action Plan, there is no integrated cross–government system for capturing and aggregating data on Women, Peace and Security activity, expenditure or impact, nor a consistently applied set of Women, Peace and Security specific indicators. The absence of baseline data and an operational Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning framework at the midpoint of the National Action Plan cycle limits the ability of the Government and Parliament to assess whether interventions are delivering measurable improvements. In the context of Official Development Assistance cuts and reductions in staff and resourcing, this also represents poor value for money, as resources are not systematically tracked or assessed.