Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what information his Department holds on onward sales of arms and military equipment originally sold by UK defence industry where the original sale was made as a result of a UK arms fair.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what information his Department holds on sales of arms and military equipment associated with (a) human rights abuses and (b) war crimes that were originally sold by the UK defence industry where the original sale was made a result of a UK arms fair.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what international best practice frameworks are in place to regulate (a) marketing and (b) sales of arms and military equipment at arms fairs in the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what surveillance and enforcement procedures are in place to ensure that weapons and military equipment in contravention of international agreements to which the UK is a signatory are not (a) promoted, (b) sold during and (c) sold following the Defence and Security Equipment International 2019.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much was spent on surveillance and enforcement activity connected to the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair in (a) 2013, (b) 2015 and (c) 2017.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what surveillance and enforcement measures are in place to ensure that no direct sales are made to countries subject to arms embargo at Defence and Security Equipment International 2019.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what surveillance and enforcement measures are in place to ensure that no onward sales are made to countries subject to arms embargo following sales to other countries at the Defence and Security Equipment International 2019.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We do not hold information about the cost of surveillance and enforcement activities at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in 2013, 2015, 2017.
All exports of military items from the UK are subject to export controls. Each export licence application is rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which include criteria for human rights and international humanitarian law, and sanctions and embargoes. The Government will not grant a licence where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria. Government approval is also required for the release of classified defence-related information or equipment by UK exporters to overseas entities for marketing purposes. The Export Control Joint Unit attends some UK arms fairs (including DSEI) to raise awareness with the organisers and the exhibitors of their export control obligations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2019 to Question 220155, which countries from the human rights priority list were invited to and attended Defence and Security Equipment International 2017 as official delegations.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The six countries which were invited and attended Defence and Security Equipment International 2017 as official delegations were:
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Colombia
Egypt
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many sales were conducted by (a) the UK Government and (b) British registered military companies at the Defence and Security Equipment International 2017 to (i) states and (ii) companies registered within those states that appeared on the list of the UK Government’s Human Rights Priority Countries in 2017.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department does not hold central records of defence and security exports achieved at Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) specifically. DSEI is a defence and security exhibition organised by a commercial events company. DIT DSO’s Official Statistics provide estimates of global defence and security exports, achieved throughout each year, based on orders or sales and are published annually on GOV.UK with the most recent being 2017 figures, published in July 2018.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many countries which appeared on the list of the UK Government’s Human Rights Priority Countries in 2017 (a) attended and (b) sent delegations to the 2017 Defence and Security Equipment International.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for International Trade and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office undertake a stringent process of scrutiny and approval before any invitations to foreign governments are issued, for major UK defence exhibitions like DSEI.
Respect for human rights is a mandatory consideration in the process and a country would not be invited where that would contradict the UK’s international obligations. Invitations are reviewed if the situation in any one country changes significantly prior to an exhibition.
Six human rights priority countries were invited and attended Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2017 as official delegations.