Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether any British companies are involved in the (a) manufacture and (b) sale of cluster munitions.

As a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the UK takes its obligations seriously and continues to fulfil them. The UK takes a comprehensive approach across government and globally to directly tackle the issue of cluster munitions, including adopting national legislation. The UK Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Act 2010 which was introduced by the then Labour government, created criminal offences banning the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions (Article 9).

As a consequence, the manufacture of cluster munitions is prohibited in the UK. The export of such munitions is also subject to the strictest controls. Such exports would only be permitted in order for such munitions to be destroyed, for training in detection or disposal, or for development of counter-measures.