§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list all occasions when hon. Members have sought assistance in obtaining export licences during the past five years to import items from overseas.
§ Mr. Needham[holding answer 20 January 1994]: My Department is only one of a number of Departments which operate import controls by issuing import licences. Before an import licence can be issued, it is often a pre-requisite that an export licence is provided by the competent authorities of the exporting country. My Department would not expect to know whether assistance had been sought to secure the provision of such an export licence; and no instance are know of.
The other Departments operating similar licensing controls are the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food—agriculutral products—the Home Office—drugs —the Department of the Environment—wildlife—and the Health and Safety Executive—explosives and fireworks.