§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official Report a statistical breakdown showing over the past five years, year by year (a) the number of offences committed in which air weapons were involved, (b) an age distribution of the offenders and (c) the number of fatal and other injuries to other people.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe information available relating to parts (a) and (b) of the question is given in the following table:
volume for 1977, Cmnd. 7289. Figures for earlier years are given in the table below:
§ Dr. SummerskillInformation in the form requested is not recorded centrally. On 31 December 1978, however, which is the latest date for which figures are available, there were 389 persons serving sentences in prison department establishments who were considered by prison medical officers to be suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree warranting their detention in hospital for 3W medical treatment under the Mental Health Act 1959.