§ Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 7 June 2004,Official Report , column 57W, what proportion of the time that British missions overseas devote to trade development and investment work is for military goods at (a) UK embassies in general and (b) the UK embassy in Saudi Arabia. [184669]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienResponsibility for advice on the purchase of UK military equipment UK Diplomatic Missions overseas normally rests with Defence Attaches or staff from the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO). In the case of Saudi Arabia, there is a dedicated First Secretary (Defence Supply) based in Riyadh. A number of other British Missions overseas also have both military and civilian staff who are dedicated to Defence sales. The duties of staff employed in Trade and Investment work in Embassy commercial sections world wide do not usually include defence sales, except in the few cases where neither DESO nor Defence Attache staff are represented at the Mission. To provide a more detailed breakdown would incur disproportionate costs. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce) on 30 June 2004Official Report , column 350W for the proportion of Defence Attache's time spent supporting legitimate defence exports and defence procurement collaboration activities in accordance with Government policy on arm exports at our overseas Missions.