Vol. 411 No. 8
118 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Defence if he will outline (1) if the .303 Lee Enfield rifles, which were withdrawn from the FCA have been disposed of (2) whether they were sold and if so, to whom (3) the numbers sold, the price paid for each rifle and the total amount received and (4) the plans he has to dispose of the remaining rifles and the total remaining in stores.
A quantity of some 6,000 .303 Lee Enfield rifles, which were surplus to requirements, was disposed of by sale to a Canadian company in early 1991 following competitive tendering. While it is not the practice to disclose details regarding the prices realised for such sales the overall revenue generated by the sale of the rifles, including a small quantity of other weapons, was £270,000 approximately.
The question of the disposal of further obsolete weapons is being kept under review.
