§ Mr. ChisholmTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the Government's policy on the export of instruments of torture.
§ Mr. NeedhamAs I explained to my hon. Friend the Member for Norfolk, North-West (Mr. Bellingham) on 12 January,Official Report, column 168, the Government deeply deprecate the export of any equipment knowingly to be used as an instrument of torture. The difficulty in this area lies in the fact that many perfectly innocuous goods may be misused for such purposes overseas and it is not practical to control the export of such items. However, if any such cases are brought to the Government's attention we shall make the strongest possible representations to those involved; if they are ignored, we will examine what steps could be taken to prevent export taking place. When realistic, enforceable controls are possible we can act urgently to impose them.