§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the percentage increase in the number of serious offences involving the use of firearms over the past 10 years.
§ Mr. MayhewBetween 1971 and 1981, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of notifiable offences in which firearms were reported to have been used rose from 1,730 to 8,070, of which 5,600 were offences in which air weapons were used. This is an increase of about 365 per cent., but the proportion of offences involving firearms has not altered significantly in recent years. In 1981, as in previous years, it did not exceed 10 per cent. in any offence group.
Table 1—Persons arrested* for recorded offences of robbery and other violent theft † by ethnic appearance Metropolitan Police District, 1981 Police District Ethnic appearance of persons arrested Number of persons White-skinned European Dark-skinned European Black-skinned (West Indian/African) Indian/Pakistani Chinese/Japanese Arabian/Egyptian Not recorded Total A—(Part) Westminster 38 3 7 1 0 3 0 52 B—Kensington and Chelsea 48 2 32 0 1 5 0 88 C—(Part) Westminster 84 7 37 0 4 3 0 135 D—(Part) Westminister 51 15 51 0 0 2 0 119 E—Camden 88 3 36 3 0 0 0 130 F—Hammersmith 37 3 45 2 0 0 0 87 G—Hackney 60 7 111 2 0 0 0 180 H—Tower Hamlets 60 2 29 12 0 0 0 103 I—Heathrow, etc 8 0 0 6 0 0 0 14 J—Waltham Forest, Redbridge, etc. 54 2 34 1 1 2 0 94 K—Havering, Barking and Newham 114 1 75 10 0 0 0 200 L—Lambeth 88 1 186 2 0 0 0 277 M—Southwark 81 2 64 3 0 0 0 150 N—Islington 68 1 41 1 0 0 0 111 P—Lewisham and Bromley 65 1 62 0 0 0 0 128