§ Mr. Whitelaw[pursuant to his answer to a supplementary question by the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley), 18 November 1982, c. 412]: Chief officers of police in England and Wales were asked to provide the answer "Yes" or "No" to the questions:
- A. Does your force have a stock of baton round equipment.
- B. If your force does not have baton round equipment, has a stock been ordered to hold locally?
- C. Has your force undertaken training in the use of baton round equipment?
- D. Do you intend that your force should undertake training in the use of baton round equipment?
- E. Does your force have a stock of CS equipment for public order use?
- F. If your force does not have a stock of such CS equipment, has a stock been ordered to hold locally?
- G. Has your force undertaken trainig in the use of such CS equipment?
- H. Do you intend that your force should undertake training in the use of CS equipment for public order use?
The replies were as follows:
62W
Force Question A B C D E F G H Metropolitan Police / / / / City of London Police × × × × / / Avon and Somerset / / / / Bedfordshire × × × × / × / Cambridgeshire × × × × × × × × Cheshire × × × × × × × × Cleveland × × / / / Cumbria × × × × × × × × Derbyshire / / / / Devon and Cornwall × × × × × × × × Dorset / × / / × / Durham × × × × × × × × Dyfed Powys × × × × × × × × Essex / / / / Gloucestershire × × × × / / Greater Manchester × × × / / / Gwent × × × × × × × × Hampshire × × × × × × × × Hertfordshire × × / / / Humberside × × × / / / Kent × × × / / / Lancashire / / × × × × Leicestershire / / / / Lincolnshire / / / × / Merseyside / / / / Norfolk / / / /
Force Question A B C D E F G H Northamptonshire × × × × × × × × Northumbria × × × × / / North Wales × / × / / / North Yorkshire / / × × × × Nottinghamshire × × × × × / / South Wales × × × × × × × × South Yorkshire × / × / / / Staffordshire × × × × / / Suffolk × × × × / / Surrey × × × × × × × × Sussex / / / / Thames Valley × × × × / / Warwickshire / / / / West Mercia × × × × / / West Midlands × × × × / / West Yorkshire / / / / Wiltshire / / / / Notes:
1. / = Yes: × = No
2. A positive reply on possession of equipment does not necessarily mean that a force currently has a complete set or sets. For example, one force has indicated that at present it has a baton round discharger without rounds; and another that at present it does not have CS devices but smoke-making devices, simulating CS for training purposes.
3. In accordance with the Home Office guidelines on the use of CS and baton rounds for dealing with public disorder, all of the CS and baton round equipment is of types authorised by the Home Office.
4. It is chief officers of police who arrange training in the use of the equipment.
5. That some forces which have trained officers do not have domestic stocks of equipment is explained by the fact that training may be arranged with a force which has stocks.
6. Decisions to acquire and/or train in the use of the equipment may be taken because of the potential need for a force to take part in mutual aid operations, in which officers from one force reinforce those in another force area.