The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund’s (CSSF)
investment delivers projects in Ukraine, Africa, the Indo-Pacific
and the Overseas Territories among other places. Last year it
more than doubled spending on cyber security programmes, with
£25.5 million spent on the Global Cyber Programme, the Africa
Joint Operations Against Cyber Crime and bolstering the cyber
defences Georgia, Iraq and elsewhere.
The Cabinet Office-led CSSF tackles
the greatest threats to UK national security emanating from
overseas, especially conflict, transnational threats and hostile
state activity. The 2022 to 2023 CSSF Annual
Report reveals how and where it spent money to tackle these
global security challenges, such as assistance to Ukraine
following the illegal invasion by Russia and countering Russian
disinformation on the invasion.
The CSSF also
plays a key role in strengthening UK and international partners’
cyber security by strengthening their cyber defences and
supporting their fight against cyber-crime. For example the
CSSF has also
funded programmes in the Indo-Pacific region, delivering cyber
exercises in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan to help test their
response to a major national cyber attack.
Through the CSSF, the UK
established a Ukraine Cyber Programme, providing £7.3 million
from the beginning of the invasion to March 2022. Following the
IRR, funding for this programme will be increased by up to £25
million, including £16 million from UK funding, and potential for
a further £9 million contribution from international
allies.
Ukraine was the biggest single-state recipient of CSSF-funded
Official Development Assistance, receiving £41 million, an
increase from £23.5 million in the 2021 to 2022 financial
year.
Cabinet Office Minister for the CSSF said:
From the Balkans to Latin America, the Indo-Pacific and beyond,
the UK’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund plays a vital role
in keeping people safe both at home and abroad.
Improving the cyber security of our international partners is
vital to the preservation of the rules-based international system
and so detecting, disrupting and deterring cyber threats across
the globe has been central to the CSSF’s work.
Other significant areas of spending included projects in Eastern
Europe and Central Asia which accounted for around 14% of
CSSF funding
(£119.28 million) and projects in Sub-Saharan Africa which
accounted for almost 12% of CSSF funding
(£98.57 million). In Sub-Saharan Africa the CSSF’s
investment has tackled the threat of violent extremists by
working with counter terror organisations.
The CSSF also
manages the UK government’s funding of peacekeeping operations
and deployments and manages the Rapid Response Mechanism with
peacekeeping efforts accounting for more than a third (36%) of
its spending (£301.8 million).
In March 2023, as part of the Integrated Review Refresh, the
Prime Minister announced the CSSF would
transform into a new fund: the Integrated Security Fund
(ISF) from April
2024. The CSSF’s
transition into the ISF will link up our domestic
and overseas security to strengthen our ability to export
world-leading expertise to international partners so we can
tackle global challenges such as smuggling, illicit finances and
large-scale migration.
The Cabinet Office-led CSSF brings
together several government departments, including the FCDO, Home
Office and Ministry of Defence. The FCDO was the single biggest
spender of CSSF funding
the 2022 to 2023 financial year; it accounted for 81.7% of total
spend (£678.27 million).
