4 The Committees' questions on the
Government's quarterly information on arms export licences
16. The Export Control Organisation (ECO), within
the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, publishes
details of the arms export licences that have been granted, refused
or appealed for each Quarter. These are known as the Pivot reports.
The information in these reports is of great importance, and the
Quarterly reports are subject to detailed scrutiny by the Committees.
This invariably results in the Committees putting a series of
detailed questions to the Government, to which the Government
provides answers to the CAEC.
17. Continuing the Committees' policy of publishing
their unclassified questions on the Government's quarterly arms
export licences reports and the Government's unclassified answers,
the Committees' questions and the Government's answers for Quarter
4 of 2012 and Quarters 1, 2 and 3 of 2013 are contained in Annex
1. Key information from the Government's answers to the Committees'
questions on the quarterly Pivot reports is included in the various
country headings in section 10 of this Report.
18. The Committees' Recommendation on the Committees'
questions on the Government's quarterly information on arms export
licences in their 2013 Report (HC 205) and the Government's
Response (Cm8707) were as follows:
The Committees' Conclusion and Recommendation:
The Committees continue to recommend that
the Government, in its Quarterly arms export licence reports,
and in its answers to the Committees' questions on those reports,
should provide the maximum disclosure of information on a non-classified
basis consistent with safeguarding the UK's security and trade
interests. The Committees conclude that it is disappointing that
the Government only noted, rather than accepted, this same recommendation
made in the Committees' 2012 Report.[17]
The Government's Response:
The Government accepts this recommendation which
coincides with current practice.[18]
19. I propose that the Committees conclude that
the Government's acceptance of the Committees' previous Recommendation
that the Government's answers to the Committees' questions on
the Government's published quarterly reports of arms export licences
granted, refused or appealed should provide the maximum disclosure
of information on a non-classified basis consistent with safeguarding
the UK's security and trade interests is welcome and recommend
that the Government continues this practice.
17 HC (2013-14) 205, para 36 Back
18
Cm8707, p 2 Back
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