Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many firearms owned by his Department (a) were lost or stolen and (b) are otherwise unaccounted for at facilities in the UK in the last two years.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes the security of firearms and ammunition very seriously and has robust procedures to deter and prevent losses and thefts. Given the dynamic nature of military activity, it is impossible to entirely mitigate all risks. Nevertheless, all losses and thefts of firearms and ammunition are fully and rigorously investigated, in partnership as necessary with civilian police forces.

The numbers lost and stolen over the past two years are shown below. For context, the MOD owns and operates around 360,000 firearms.