§ Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what basis injuries resulting from offences in which firearms were used were categorised as serious or slight in Table 6 of the Consultative Document "The Control of Firearms in Great Britain" Cmnd. Paper No. 5297.
§ Mr. CarlisleA serious injury was defined for this purpose as one requiring hospital treatment or causing the victim to be away from work or school.
§ Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of deaths and what proportion of serious injuries in offences in which firearms were used since 1st January 1969 arose from the use of imitation and supposed guns.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe following is the information up to the end of 1971:
NUMBER OF OFFENCES IN ENGLAND AND WALES IN WHICH A FIREARM WAS USED CAUSING FATAL OR SERIOUS INJURY Total number of offence Number of offences in which an imitation or supposed firearm was used 1969 Fatal injury 26 — Serious injury 141 1 1970 Fatal injury 29 — Serious injury 132 1 1971 Fatal injury 38 — Serious injury 119 —
§ Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the rate of subsequent convictions for robberies, since 1st January 1969, in which imitation and supposed firearms, long-barrelled shotguns, sawn-off shotguns, pistols and air weapons were used, respectively.
§ Mr. CarlisleThis information is not collected, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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§ Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the increase in the proportion of offences, since 1967 to the latest available date, in which air weapons were used
OFFENCES IN ENGLAND AND WALES IN WHICH A FIREARM WAS USED Percentage in which the firearm was: Total number of offences an air weapon a supposed or imitation firearm Per cent Per cent 1967 … … … … 792 40.2 7.2 1968 … … … … 878 37.8 8.2 1969 … … … … 1,308 45.2 8.7 1970 … … … … 1,359 49.4 8.8 1971 … … … … 1,735 51.2 8.1
§ Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people, other than the guilty person, have been seriously injured, and how many have been killed, in those offences in which air weapons were used and in those in which imitation weapons were used from January 1969 to the latest available date.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe information is not readily available in the form requested.
The following table shows the numbers of offences in England and Wales in 1969 –71 in which air weapons or imitation firearms were used and in which a person or persons other than the alleged offender were seriously injured. None was killed.
Air weapon Imitation firearms 1969 72 1 1970 80 — 1971 67 —