§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average annual total of offences recorded as homicide in the period from 1974 to 1979 inclusive; and what was the average annual total in the comparable six-year period before the abolition of capital punishment.
§ Mr. BrittanThe Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 came into force on 9 November 1965. The average annual total of offences initially recorded as homicide in the period 1959–1964 was 286 and in 1974–1979 it was 554.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of offences involving the use of firearms in the period from 1974 to 1979 inclusive; and what was the average annual total in the comparable six-year period before the abolition of capital punishment.
§ Mr. BrittanThe average annual number of serious offences in England and Wales in which firearms were reported to have been used in 1974–79 was 4,805. Corresponding figures before 1967 are not available.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the main ascertainable reasons for the number of offences recorded as homicide and the number of offences involving the use of firearms in the year 1979.
§ Mr. BrittanThe information available is published inCriminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1979, Cmnd 8098—tables 10.3–10.5 and 3.1–3.4.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has made any estimate of the likely trend in homicide and in the use of firearms by criminals in 1980.
§ Mr. BrittanNo.