Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made for the implications of her policy of her policies of the report from the UN Group of Experts on Yemen on its decision to resume the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government is always concerned to learn of allegations such as those contained in the Group of Eminent Experts’ latest report. The United Kingdom urges the parties to the conflict to investigate these allegations, to take action to uphold rights and responsibilities, and to co-operate with the Group in future.
We take our export responsibilities seriously and will continue to assess all export licences in accordance with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (the ‘Consolidated Criteria’). We will not issue any export licences where to do so would be inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has made a further assessment of the evidence of whether UK anti-riot equipment was used during the US Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
Officials in the Export Control Joint Unit have carried out two reassessments of whether the events in the United States – since George Floyd was killed on 25th May 2020 – give rise to a clear risk under Criterion 2a of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (the “Consolidated Criteria”) that crowd control equipment exported to the US might be used for internal repression.
The first reassessment was completed in July and it was determined that no clear risk that such equipment might be used for internal repression existed. The second reassessment was completed in September 2020 and this concluded likewise.
Given the broad list of end-users covered by the licences, the reassessments assumed that it was possible that crowd control equipment exported from the United Kingdom was and/or could be sold to and used by police forces involved in these or similar protests, whether or not this was the case; accordingly, this supersedes an assessment on whether such equipment was actually used.
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that the US remains a beacon for freedom, opportunity and democracy. The US maintains the rule of law and has robust institutions. Further, there is democratic oversight, accountability and extensive public scrutiny, including by an active civil society and free press.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when she plans to publish guidance on how rules of origin will operate after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
We have already made our guidance on non-preferential rules of origin publicly available on GOV.UK. The guidance sets out the product specific rules, to determine the origin of imports outside of a preferential agreement.
We are working at pace to progress our discussions with existing and future trading partners and will continue to update our guidance on preferential rules of origin as we agree new provisions with them. Guidance can be found on GOV.UK for those countries with whom we have already signed a Free Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that UK climate commitments are a priority for the activities of the Board of Trade.
Answered by Graham Stuart
To ensure the UK’s climate commitments are a focus of the Board of Trade, two relevant experts have been appointed as Advisers.