§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) on defence exports of 18 May 1998,Official Report, column 265, if he will make a statement on the means by which the monitoring and assessment policy was applied to each item authorised for sale to Indonesia since 1 May 1997. [43450]
§ Mr. FatchettMy hon. Friend the Minister of State's answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Slough referred to the process of assessing at the licensing stage the risk that proposed exports might be used for internal repression. We have made such an assessment in the case of all licence applications for the export of controlled goods to Indonesia circulated to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by the Department of Trade and Industry in line with our policy responsibilities. No formal152W procedures exist for routinely monitoring the use that is made of British defence equipment, once exported. But we are ready when necessary to investigate any specific allegations of misuse.