Arms Trade: Israel

(asked on 5th January 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make it her policy to (a) monitor and (b) report on the impact of UK-supplied arms on civilians in the Israel-Hamas conflict.


Answered by
Greg Hands Portrait
Greg Hands
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This question was answered on 15th January 2024

The UK export licensing system is based on having a thorough risk-assessment process for the original export licence before the goods leave the UK.

We rigorously assess every application on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (the SELC).

The SELC provide a thorough risk assessment framework for export licence applications and require us to think hard about the impact of providing equipment and its capabilities. We will not license the export of equipment where to do so would be inconsistent with the SELC.  These are not decisions we take lightly.

Our assessments draw on all available information relevant to the criteria in the case, including reports from NGOs and our overseas network.

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