§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make it her policy that a separate account be kept of all applications for export licences which require consideration under the criteria announced by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 28 July 1997. [45509]
§ Mrs. RocheIn his announcement on 28 July 1997,Official Report, columns 26–29, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs stated that the criteria would be used when considering all future individual applications for licences to export goods entered in Part III of Schedule 1 to the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994 and existing licence applications on which a decision has not yet been made. He also stated that the criteria will be applied when considering licence applications for the export of dual-use goods when there are grounds for believing that the end user of such goods will be the armed forces or the internal security forces of the recipient country.
As all the decisions taken against the criteria and others taken by this Government since 2 May 1997 reflect our commitment to manage arms transfers responsibly, in particular so as to avoid their use for internal repression and international aggression, I do not believe there would be any purpose in separating data in the manner suggested.