Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his arms export policy to Saudi Arabia of the legal advice on that matter commissioned by Amnesty International and Saferworld, published in December 2015.

Anna Soubry

The policy framework for arms export licensing to all destinations, including Saudi Arabia, remains as set out in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, known as the Consolidated Criteria.

This requires all export licence applications to be carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated Criteria, taking into account all relevant factors at the time of application, including reporting by non-Governmental organisations, the United Nations and others.

A licence will not be issued, for any country, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the Criteria.