§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will set out the procedures which have been obtained in his Department since 1974 to ensure that Parliament was informed of exports of military goods and services and dual-use goods and services to(a) the middle east, (b) Iran and (c) Iraq; and if he will indicate in which years changes took place. [17344]
§ Mr. LangDetails of the exports of goods to Iran and Iraq are published monthly in "Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom".
No information is given for the middle east as a bloc, although each of the individual countries' data are published.
Information is given for goods only. Broad commodity details are given for all countries. Figures for military goods and dual-use goods are not given as identified blocks. However, the Ministry of Defence, in the annual publication "UK Defence Statistics", publishes identified military exports and imports, but only in relation to broad geographic areas. There are no figures for dual-use goods because the classification under which export statistics are collected does not refer to dual-use goods.
Until 1988, the DTI published the "Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom". From 1989 to early 1995, they were published by the Central Statistical Office. Since April 1995, they have been published by HM Customs and Excise. Details of the exports of goods to Iran and Iraq are published monthly in "Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom".
On 26 February, the Government placed in the Library of the House a document setting out the current position in relation to informing Parliament on the export of arms, with an explanation of how this practice has evolved.
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