§ Mr. HoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of the numbers of violent crimes where firearms have been involved in each year since 1979.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonI refer the hon. Member to the annual bulletins published by the Scottish Home and Health Department under the title "Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland", which give a comprehensive analysis of offences involving firearms including information on categories of firearms used, type of offence committed, and so on. The latest bulletin, which gives the figures for 1988, was published as SHHD statistical bulletin No. 4/1989. A copy is in the Library.