VI CONCLUSION
86. There has been a widespread welcome for the Government's
initiative in publishing Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls.
It has produced a new level of openness in an area of policy and
administration hitherto shrouded in unnecessary secrecy. In that
respect the Annual Reports are a significant breakthrough in open
Government, and we join in the general welcome afforded them.
Ministers will, however, be the first to accept that they are
on a learning curve. We believe that our examination has identified
key policy issues which need to be faced, including trafficking
and brokering, licensed and joint production and end-user controls.
Lessons must be learned from the history of exports to Indonesia.
Agreement of the EU Code of Conduct is only the first stage. We
are frankly appalled at the dilatory approach to legislating on
the Scott Report. The two Annual Reports are to some extent a
sign of joined up government; they have prompted joined up parliamentary
scrutiny in the form of a joint inquiry by four committees. We
too have been on a learning curve. We identify in our concluding
paragraphs the need to examine the process of such joint scrutiny,
as well as the important issue of prior scrutiny. We are unanimous
in our conviction that the scope and character of strategic export
licensing, which regularly arouses public and parliamentary concern,
requires vigilant and thorough scrutiny.
|
