§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will name(a) the department within his Department with responsibility for handling export licences and (b) the civil servant who heads it. [148596]
§ Mr. WilsonWithin the Foreign and Commonwealth Office the processing of export licence applications is co-ordinated by the non-proliferation department. The actual scrutiny of licence applications is carried out by the relevant geographical departments, with advice from the non-proliferation department and other specialist FCO departments as needed, and consulting Ministers on sensitive cases. Since 8 January 2001, the head of the non-proliferation department has been Tim Dowse.