Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications for licences for export of arms to Saudi Arabia have been rejected on the grounds that they were inconsistent with the EU and National Arms Export Consolidated Criteria since the outbreak of war in Yemen in late 2014.
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.
Whilst no Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) have been refused since 2015, 11 Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) have been rejected for military rated exports to Saudi Arabia.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which fruitless payments in excess of £30,000 his Department has made by (a) recipient of each such payment, (b) purpose of each such payment, (c) value of each such payment and (d) reason that payment was classified as fruitless in the 2017-18 financial year to date.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade has not made any fruitless payments over £30,000 in the 2017-18 financial year to date.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans he has to ensure that future UK trade deals take account of the Government's policy on increasing equity and support for farmers and other workers in developing countries.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade and the Department for International Development (DFID) are working together to ensure development and global prosperity are at the heart of UK trade and investment policy.
DFID’s first Economic Development Strategy, launched in January 2017, sets out how the Government will support trade, investment and job creation in manufacturing, infrastructure and commercial agriculture to provide strong foundations for inclusive growth in the developing world.
We are committed to helping countries in the developing world leave aid dependency behind and become our trading partners of the future.