§ Mr. David YoungTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many guns police force by police force, were reported stolen in each of the last five years; and in each case what was their category.
§ Mr. John Patten[holding answer 9 December 1987]: The available information relates to burglaries and thefts in which a firearm was reported stolen, by principal weapon, and is published for England and Wales as a whole, 1976–86, in table 3.12 of "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1986" (Cm 233) copies of which are in the Library. Information is not collected centrally on the number of weapons reported stolen in these incidents. A breakdown of the 1986 figures by police force area is given in the table. Such a breakdown for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
17W
Police force area Total Air Weapon Shotgun Pistol Rifle Starting gun Other South Yorkshire 99 69 12 7 1 6 4 Staffordshire 28 10 11 3 — 1 3 Suffolk 67 28 16 3 2 6 12 Surrey 53 18 21 7 2 2 3 Sussex 44 19 19 2 1 1 2 Thames Valley 123 38 56 8 5 6 10 Warwickshire 35 19 11 — 1 3 1 West Mercia 74 25 23 5 11 2 8 West Midlands 149 70 31 15 3 12 18 West Yorkshire 117 58 24 17 7 5 6 Wiltshire 12 3 7 1 1 — — Dyfed Powys 21 6 12 1 1 — 1 Gwent 15 8 5 1 — — 1 North Wales 23 9 13 1 — — — South Wales 29 18 9 — — — 2 Total 2,555 1,117 804 177 105 101 251 1 More than one firearm may have been stolen in each offence.