§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shotguns were reported stolen in each of the past five years; how many have been recovered; and how many were later found to have been used to commit a criminal offence.
§ Mr. John PattenThe available information relates to the number of notifiable offences of burglary and theft recorded by the police in which shotguns were reported to have been the principal weapon stolen; more than one firearm may have been stolen in each offence. The figures for 1975 to 1985 are published in table 3.11 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1985" (Cm. 10), and in 1986 there were 804 such offences. Chief officers of police do not record the numbers of stolen firearms recovered or of those subsequently found to have been used in crime.