§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) to what extent the cost of purchasing Saudi Arabian oil under Ministry of Defence sponsored arrangements are used in payment for Tornado aircraft by the Saudi Arabian Government;
(2) to what extent costs to the Jordanian Government of Tornado aircraft in excess of that price being paid by the United Kingdom Government for Tornado are supported by official credit support facilities from the ECGD;
(3) what arrangements are or will be maintained by the Ministry of Defence for programming payments to British Aerospace for the purchase of Tornado aircraft and other defence equipment by the Jordanian and or the Saudi Arabian Government.
§ Mr. SainsburyIt has never been the practice of this or previous governments to publish details of individual defence exports for reasons of commercial and customer confidentiality.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether, following upon or during discussions representatives of Her Majesty's Government or Ministers have had on the sale of Tornado aircraft to Jordan or Saudi Arabia, he has received information as to the level of commission payments being paid in the supply of Tornado aircraft to those countries.
§ Mr. SainsburyNo.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has been informed by the West German Government as to what extent commission payments to citizens of Saudi Arabia or Jordan have 757W influenced the decision by the West German Government not to provide more than 23 per cent. of official credit support towards the construction of Tornado and other defence equipment for supply to the Jordanian or Saudi Government.
§ Mr. SainsburyNo.
§ Mr. RogersTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what work was undertaken by the Defence Export Services Organisation in support of the negotiations for the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to(a) Saudi Arabia and (b) Jordan.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe negotiation of Government-to-Government agreements in connection with the sale of defence equipment are undertaken by staff of the Defence Export Services Organisation. This practice was followed for the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to Saudi Arabia and the prospective sale of Tornado to Jordan.
§ Mr. RogersTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he had with his West German and Italian counterparts relating to the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to(a) Saudi Arabia and (b) Jordan.
§ Mr. SainsburyAs with any collaborative project my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has naturally had occasion to have discussions with collaborative partners; in the case of Tornado with the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy in connection with prospective sales to third parties.
§ Mr. RogersTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what payments were made to cover the cost of negotiating the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe only costs incurred by the Ministry of Defence in the negotiation of the sale of Tornado and other aircraft to Saudi Arabia and the prospective sale to Jordan were the salaries, travel and related costs of the MOD staff involved in the Government-to-Government negotiations.
§ 1988. Mr. RogersTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total amount of expenditure incurred by the Defence Export Services Organisation in promoting the sale of Tornado aircraft and other defence equipment to middle eastern countries in(a) 1985, (b) 1986, (c) 1987 and (d)
§ Mr. SainsburyDESO costs are not apportioned to individual sales prospects. However, the annual costs of the regional marketing division responsible within DESO for the middle east are approximately £400,000.