Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a scrutiny body within his Department that is tasked with assessing the consequences of individual arms licences on the Government's international legal obligations.

The Government takes its defence export responsibilities extremely seriously and operates some of the most robust export controls in the world. We examine each new application on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. The Criteria maintain the UK's high standards on counter proliferation and give effect to the UK's international obligations and commitments.