Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the value of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia in (1) 2017, and (2) 2019.

Although defence and security export statistics by region are published annually on GOV.UK, they do not separately identify data relating to individual countries.

The Government publishes official statistics about export licences granted and refused each quarter. The data currently includes details of licences up to 31 March 2020. Data for the period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 was published on 13 October 2020. The data can be accessed on GOV.UK.

It should be noted that licences granted are not necessarily a measure of sales or exports shipped in a given period as they are valid for between two and five years. Licensing data only provides a partial indication of sales as exporters only declare export values for a subsection of licences (Standard Individual Export Licences). Some licences expire before they are used and, in these circumstances, exporters must submit a further application, which can result in an element of double counting. All UK export licence applications are assessed rigorously against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing criteria.

Export values declared for Standard Individual Export Licences for military exports granted to Saudi Arabia in 2017 and 2019 are as follows: