HC Deb 26 June 1986 vol 100 cc449-51
2. Mr. Jim Callaghan

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the increase since 1978 in the total number of crimes in England and Wales in which a firearm was used.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Giles Shaw)

The number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used increased from 5,672 in 1978 to 8,376 in 1984. Within these totals the main increases were in respect of robberies and offences of criminal damage.

Mr. Callaghan

Is the Minister aware that the recent study produced by the Home Department into crimes of personal violence shows a dramatic increase in the number of crimes of personal violence related to armed robbery and a dramatic decrease in the number of those crimes that have been cleared up. Will the Minister tell the House of his ideas for changing the law to tighten up the availability of these weapons to criminals?

Mr. Shaw

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that there has been a substantial increase in the number of armed robberies. Pistols are the largest used category of weapon in those offences — some 1,106 in 1984. The best deterrent to armed crime is the risk of detection and severe punishment, and that is why the police will continue to have our full support in their efforts to bring those responsible before the courts. That is also why we have announced in the criminal justice White Paper our intention to increase to life imprisonment the maximum penalty for carrying firearms in furtherance of crime.

Sir William Clark

Does my hon. Friend agree that if capital punishment were to be reintroduced there would be a dramatic decrease in armed robbery?

Mr. Shaw

I am aware that my hon. Friend and other hon. Members feel strongly about these issues. He will know, of course, that there is a case for the other point of view.

Mr. Ron Davies

Will the Minister come clean on a point that I put to him in last night's debate? I suggested that there was a major loophole in the Firearms Act 1968 which allows any holder of a foreign passport to go to any gun shop, sports shop or gunsmith in Britain and, without restriction, buy any amount of shotguns or ammunition. Will the Minister confirm that that is the case? If it is the case, will he tell the House what he proposes to do about it?

Mr. Shaw

It is the case that section 14 of the 1968 Act allows that. In the next review of firearms legislation, the 1968 Act will be one of the major pieces of legislation that we shall look at.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Will the Minister confirm that in cases where firearms are carried in the course of robbery, the judiciary has made a practice of imposing substantial prison sentences over and above those that the offences would otherwise attract? Does he agree that that is a highly welcome development?

Mr. Shaw

I do agree; and it is essential that the public should see that those who carry firearms for whatever illicit purpose receive very severe penalties.

Mr. Soley

The point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) is another example of why we need a committee set up in the Home Office and not the rather feeble consultation procedure by which the Minister tried to calm his Back Benchers last night during the debate on the firearms order. When will the Home Secretary reply to my letter of 26 March, which suggested that this was precisely the sort of issue about which we could be forewarned if we had a committee of the type that I have described?

Mr. Shaw

If the hon. Gentleman had allowed a reasonable time for responses to be made in last night's debate, he might have received a reply. I shall write to the hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Thurnham

In view of the success of neighbourhood watch schemes in deterring serious crimes, would my right hon. Friend condemn those who criticise such schemes, especially the Labour-controlled Manchester City police committee?

Mr. Shaw

I certainly would. My hon. Friend is right. There is no area of the country that can afford to have a police committee that takes a disinterested view towards the prevention of crime. It is absurd for the Manchester City police committee to publish a paper which is designed to undermine the authority of the police force.

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