asked the Secretary of State for Defence what were the total amounts of arms sales in 1978; what proportion of these sales was by his Department and what proportion by private companies; which firms were granted export licences in that year; and if he will list them.

The provisional figure for United Kingdom arms sales in the financial year 1978–79 is about £900 million, of which a third is attributable to the Ministry of Defence and the remaining two-thirds to the private sector of industry. The grant of export licences is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade, but it is not the practice to disclose the information requested.