§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official Report a table setting out details of firearms, by type of weapon, which have been recovered by the police in the last five years having previously been reported to have been misappropriated.
§ Mr. MayhewThe information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the normal period of time that is expected to elapse between the submission of a completed application form and fee to the police and the issue of a firearms certificate;
(2) what is the normal period of time that is expected to elapse between the submission of a completed application form and fee to the police and the issue of a shotgun certificate.
§ Mr. MayhewThere is no prescribed period. The length of time taken to process applications for firearm and shotgun certificates depends on the circumstances of each case and on the other current pressures on police resources in individual police forces.
502W
§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official Report a table listing locations from which firearms were stolen during the last five years and set out in similar form to table 3.9 provided in Cmnd. 8098, "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1979".
§ Mr. MayhewThe information requested is given in the following table:
Burglaries and thefts recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been stolen, by location England and Wales Number of offences Location 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Residential 1,131 1,297 1,164 1,139 1,233 Public entertainment 50 62 61 68 46 Post Office or bank 1 3 2 2 — Shop, stall, garage 506 655 518 439 448 Other premises, e.g. office, factory 572 655 597 518 540 Highway 209 252 215 167 182 Other outdoor 106 97 104 77 90 Not recorded 51 50 33 31 28 TOTAL 2,626 3,071 2,694 2,441 2,567
§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table, similar to that published in table 3.12 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1979", but including the information for 1980 related to serious offences in which firearms were reported to have been misappropriated, by type of weapon;
(2) why he has excluded from Cmnd. 8376, "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1980," the information previously published in table 3.12 relating to the theft of firearms; and if he will ensure that such information is included in future publications of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales".
§ Mr. MayhewInformation previously published but not included in the shortened Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1980"—Cmnd. 8376—is either published in the supplementary tables to that volume, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House, or can usually be obtained on request. The information for 1980 required to bring up to date table 3.12 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1979"—Cmnd. 8098—is as follows:
Serious offences in which firearms were reported to have been misappropriated* by type of weapon England and Wales Number of offences 1980 All weapons 2,706 Air weapon 1,450 Shotgun 649 Pistol 164 Rifle 117 Starting gun 102 Other weapon 224 * 'Misappropriated' includes stolen, obtained by fraud or forgery or handled dishonestly.