Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many times officials in his Department were (a) consulted on and (b) asked to authorise (i) waivers and (ii) exemptions to sanction regimes in each of the last five years; and what the reasons were for those waivers and exemptions.

All sanctions regimes contain a number of exceptions and licensing powers. Exceptions and licences help to ensure that the effects of sanctions are proportionate and avoid unintended consequences. Licences for financial sanctions are issued by His Majesty's Treasury's Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), licences for trade sanctions are issued by the Department for International Trade, and licences for transport sanctions are issued by the Department for Transport.