Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how long on average it takes her Department to respond to an application for an export licence for a dual use product in cases where that licence is (a) issued and (b) not issued.

Considering applications that were completed in 2019, the longest length of time taken for a dual-use item licence to be refused in 2019 was 315 working days; the longest length of time taken for a dual-use item licence to be issued was 731 working days. The latter application is not typical, but required a government-to-government assurance and could not be completed until the foreign government involved had provided the necessary documentation.

The average processing time for all Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications was 19 working days in 2019. These include military rated, dual use and other rateable items, such as end use and human rights related items. The results also include applications that were either stopped/withdrawn, or did not require a licence. The average processing time for solely dual use items can only be provided at disproportionate costs.

The Rt Hon. Gentleman may find it helpful to know that median processing times – and the number of applications that are processed within 20/60 working days – are published on GOV.UK.