§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total value of authorised British exports of small arms and ammunition to African countries in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what is their estimate of the total for the subsequent year. [HL2750]
§ Lord BachInformation on the number of weapons and small arms exported from the UK each year is published in the Government'sAnnual Report on Strategic Export Controls.
A total value for ammunition, weapons and small arms exported from the UK to African countries, derived from data provided by HM Customs and Excise, is presented in the table below:
Year (1 January–31 December) Total value (£m)1 1998 2.46 1999 0.66 2000 0.39 1The figures represent the total value of goods exported under selected HM Customs and Excise tariff codes covering military weapons (including items such as artillery weapons, rifles, carbines and other projectile weapons), revolvers and pistols, cartridges and parts of military weapons. It is not possible, under the tariff code system, to distinguish the value of small arms from that of items such as artillery weapons. Therefore, the actual value of small arms and ammunition exported as likely to be less than show in the above table. Values for 2001 will be derived from data in the annual report, which has not yet been collated.