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<p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question
in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with
the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Court order of 20 June 2019 remitted
the decision to grant export licences for the sale or transfer of arms and military
equipment to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen to my Rt Hon.
Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade to re-take on the correct legal
basis.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The
order did not require the Secretary of State to suspend existing licences. As a matter
of priority, and without prejudice to our appeal against the 20 June judgment, we
are considering the implications of the judgment for decision-making.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Amending our decision-making
process in line with the judgment does not necessarily mean that decisions would be
different.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">On
20 June, the then Secretary of State, set out in a statement to Parliament that until
we retake our licensing decisions in line with the judgment we will not grant any
new licences for exports to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners that might be
used in the conflict in Yemen.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">However, you will be aware of the Secretary of State’s statement
to Parliament of 26 September, in which she set out information on inadvertent breaches
of the Undertaking given to the Court of Appeal by the then Secretary of State in
the Order of the Court dated 20 June 2019 and licences that were granted contrary
to the wider commitment to Parliament, made in a statement that same day. The Secretary
of State has apologised unreservedly for these errors, both to the Court and Parliament.</ins></p>
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