§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police authorities held stocks, and in what volume, of (a) plastic bullets, (b) riot shields, (c) water cannon and (d) CS gas on 1 October.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe following police forces in England and Wales are understood to hold plastic baton rounds and/or CS:
983W
Force Baton Rounds CS Metropolitan Police / / Avon and Somerset / / Bedfordshire X / Cheshire X / City of London X / Derbyshire X / Dorset X / Dyfed/Powys X / Essex / /
Force Baton Rounds CS Greater Manchester X / Hampshire X / Hertfordshire X / Humberside / / Kent X / Lancashire / / Leicestershire / / Lincolnshire / / Merseyside / / Norfolk X / Northamptonshire X / Northumbria X / North Wales / / North Yorkshire / / Nottinghamshire X / South Yorkshire X / Suffolk X / Surrey X / Sussex / / Warwickshire / / West Mercia X / West Midlands X / Wiltshire X / Note/=Yes; X=No.
Approximately 20,000 baton rounds and 1,200 CS rounds have been purchased for training or operational use in public order situations. To give details of distribution would not be conducive to the operational effectiveness of the forces concerned.
All police forces in England and Wales have stocks of riot shields but up-to-date details of numbers are not held centrally; nor are records kept of other types of CS equipment purchased for use in criminal sieges.
As to water cannon, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question on 21 February 1984, at column 443