§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many times since 1979 his Department has approved export licences for missiles which are capable of conversion to nuclear use; and for each occasion if he will give the date of approval and the end user specified in the licence. [36763]
§ Mr. OppenheimAn initial sweep of computer data— which reliably extends back only to March 1990—has shown that, even for that period, the exercise would involve the manual examination and individual technical assessment of several hundred separate licensing records. That in itself would involve disproportionate cost.
To cover the whole period would multiply that resource requirement several times, involving considerably more time-consuming manual searches.
However, the UK has been, since its inception in 1987, a full and active member of the missile technology control regime and views every application for export licences for missiles, missile systems and associated technology with care.