Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what her Department's policy is on the supply to the Israeli Government of (a) mechanical diggers and (b) other large-scale industrial or agricultural equipment that may potentially be used for the destruction of buildings in that country; and whether her Department has supplied such equipment to the Israeli Government.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The United Kingdom applies export controls to military items and certain dual-use items. Standard mechanical diggers and agricultural machinery are not subject to such controls, but the Department for International Trade is not a supplier of such equipment.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what armaments the UK exported from January 2018 to January 2021.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) on export licences granted, refused and revoked to all destinations on GOV.UK containing detailed information including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This information is available at: gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data and the most recent publication was on 13th October 2020, covering the period 1st April – 30th June 2020.
Information covering 1st July – 30th September 2020 will be published on 9th February 2021 and information covering 1st October 2020 – 31st December 2020 will be published on 13th April 2021.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent amendments her Department has made to export controls in the context of the potential provision of armaments to the Israeli Government.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (the “Consolidated Criteria”) remains the policy for assessing all licence applications on a case-by-case basis.
The Consolidated Criteria has long provided a thorough risk assessment framework and requires us to assess the impact of licensing equipment and its capabilities. HM Government will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make it her policy to suspend the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Graham Stuart
All arms sales are subject to export licensing. The Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, last updated in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014, remains the policy for assessing all licence applications.
The Court of Appeal judgment of 20 June 2019 placed the Government under an obligation not to grant any new licences to export items to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen. The Court remitted the decision whether to grant export licences for the sale or transfer of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen to the Secretary of State for International Trade to re-take on the correct legal basis.
Work is underway on the process of retaking decisions in accordance with the Order of the Court of Appeal.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to protect the (a) NHS and (b) other public services in the negotiation of trade agreements after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Hollingbery
I refer [the Honourable Friend for Lewisham East] to the answer I gave to [the Member for Midlothian] on 26 February 2019, UIN 224362.