Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ranil Jayawardena and Emma Lewell-Buck

Thursday 21st July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

4. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the transparency requirements for UK arms exports.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

16. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the transparency requirements for UK arms exports.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Mr Ranil Jayawardena)]

We publish more licensing data than any other country. Yesterday, we published our annual report covering 2021. The data reveal that of 4,234 licensing decisions on standard individual export licences, 96.1% were issued, 1.5% were refused and, because of our sanctions on Russia and Belarus, 2.4% were revoked. The Government remain committed to openness on strategic export licensing to provide Parliament with the means to hold us to account.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Jayawardena]

The hon. Gentleman refers to HMRC which does not fall under my Department, but I will ensure that the relevant Minister provides him with an answer.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I heard the Minister’s response to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Withington (Jeff Smith), but the reality is that the changes to licensing criteria have reduced transparency and accountability. Can the Minister explain the rationale for changing Government guidance on granting licences from refusing a licence if there is a clear risk that items may be used in violation of international humanitarian law to if the Government determine there is a clear risk?

[Mr Jayawardena]

As we have left the European Union, we have decided that it is right to review many aspects of our system. This is one part, and we have made the wording of the criteria clearer than before to provide certainty to exporters and others.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ranil Jayawardena and Emma Lewell-Buck

Thursday 18th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Mr Ranil Jayawardena) [V]]

We assess all export licence applications on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria. We draw on all available information, including reports from NGOs and our own overseas network. I can assure the hon. Lady that we will not license the export of equipment where to do so would be inconsistent with the consolidated criteria.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the Minister for his response, but there is a worrying pattern here. Last year, the Secretary of State said that her Department had inadvertently allowed licences for arms destined for Saudi Arabia to use against Yemeni civilians. Now she has failed to answer the clear questions of my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) regarding the export of riot control equipment to the US and its use against civilians involved in the Black Lives Matter protests. Is that because the Secretary of State has inadvertently allowed those exports too, or does she simply not know what is happening in her own Department?

[Mr Jayawardena]

Not at all. The United Kingdom has issued licences to the United States in a number of different areas, and those have been provided in written answers to the shadow Secretary of State, but we continue to monitor developments in all countries, including the United States, very closely, and we are able to review licences, and suspend or revoke them as necessary, when circumstances require. That would be done in line with the consolidated criteria.