asked the Secretary of State for Defence what instances of theft of ammunition or firearms have occurred in the last 12 months at training establishments of air training corps or other similar bodies; and if he will make a statement.

Over the past 12 months there have been 53 break-ins at a total of 3,327 service cadet corps establishments resulting in the theft of the following firearms and ammunition:

	Firearms	Ammunition
Air Training Corps	5 x ·22" rifles (1 rifle recovered)	4,877 rounds of ·22" ammunition (838 rounds recovered)
Army Cadet Force and Combined Cadet Force	18 x ·177" air rifles (6 air rifles recovered)	Nil
Sea Cadet Corps	Nil	Nil

In addition 39 inert non-firing drill purpose rifles have been stolen, of which 16 have been recovered, and 107 inert drill purpose rounds of which 35 have been recovered.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what security arrangements are made for ammunition and fire arms in the possession of air training corps and other similar bodies.

Firearms held by service cadet forces are stored in secure or structurally approved armouries, except that where it is not possible or economical to provide an armoury small bore ·22" rifles and ·303" non-firing drill purpose rifles may be stored in approved steel arms chests. Ammunition is stored in regular service armouries or properly constructed ammunition stores except that where it is not possible or economical to provide an ammunition store small quantities of small arms ·22" ammunition may be stored in approved steel containers; ammunition is kept separate from firearms.