Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of export controls on cyber-surveillance tools.

The UK already controls the export of a range of cyber-surveillance tools. Export licence applications for such items are rigorously assessed against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria taking full account of risks to national security and human rights. The UK Government continues to work through the international export control regimes to ensure these controls remain up-to-date.

In assessing licences involving sensitive communications technology, the Export Control Joint Unit also takes advice from HM Government’s National Cyber Security Centre.