§ Q1. Mr. Marshasked the Prime Minister if he will instruct Ministers that they should provide hon. Members with the information they require where the national security is not involved.
§ The Prime Minister (Sir Alec Douglas-Home)I assume that there is some specific piece of information which the hon. Gentleman wants. If he will let me know what it is, I will go into the matter or ask one of my right hon. Friends to do so.
§ Mr. MarshI am always interested in the right hon. Gentleman's assumptions, but I should have thought that the Question was fairly clear. Is he aware that I recently put down a Question to the Secretary of State for War and received the answer that 132,758 non-automatic rifles had been sold to private arms contractors in this country, but I have been steadfastly refused any indication as to where they were exported? Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that this is a subject of some public importance? Why is it not possible for the Question to be answered?
§ The Prime MinisterIf the hon. Gentleman had put a Question in that form, he might have had a better chance of getting the answer he wants. It is not usual to give publicly the names of firms. The hon. Gentleman has sent me some information he had about arms exported to the Yemen. As far as I can trace them, the facts are these, if he is interested. No licences have been issued in recent years for rifles and 1178 ammunition destined for the Yemen. The quantity of rifles licensed for export to Saudi Arabia in recent years has been negligible. The quantity of rifles licensed for export to Belgium has been very small. I will look further into the hon. Gentleman's information and ask the Minister of Defence to do so, but that is the preliminary answer to his question.
§ Mr. MarshDoes not the right hon. Gentleman realise that if he had answered the question which he was asked instead of reading the brief with which he was provided we might have had the answer to a very simple question? Will he say that Ministers should answer Questions unless questions of national security are involved? Does not he think that there is a growing tendency for Ministers to refuse to answer merely because Questions are embarrassing to them and the Government?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir; if Ministers refuse to answer Questions or cannot answer Questions because national security is involved, this is something which the whole House understands.
§ The Prime MinisterIf the hon. Gentleman will in future put down plain Questions he will get plain answers.
§ Mr. K. LewisIf hon. Members opposite took more notice of the assumptions—so-called by the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Marsh)—and the information given by the Prime Minister regarding, for instance, the trade figures for February, would not they be better informed?
§ The Prime MinisterI see what my hon. Friend is getting at, but I do not think that even I could bring it into a supplementary answer on this Question.
Mr. H. WilsonWill the Prime Minister tale it that we welcome the fact that he has been so forthcoming this afternoon in giving figures and statements about export licensing decisions in respect of the shipment of arms to the Yemen? This is a big breach in the line taken in the past by himself and other Ministers. Does it mean that the 1179 Prime Minister will now be prepared, for the first time from that Box, to answer any Questions which we put to him about licensing decisions—refusals and permits—for export to South Africa?
§ The Prime MinisterI should like to see any Questions on the Order Paper before I decide on the answer.