Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department (a) makes an assessment of the potential impact on observance of international humanitarian law and (b) communicates that assessment to the Department for Business and Trade before the grant of an arms licence.

The Government operates a robust and thorough assessment of licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and we will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with that Criteria. The FCDO advises DBT on the situation in country and the risks this poses with respect to the UK's export control responsibilities and specifically on criterion two which includes respect by that country for international humanitarian law.