HC Deb 30 March 1988 vol 130 cc482-3W
Sir Hector Monro

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish the figures of injuries caused by fireworks in 1987; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Butcher

According to reports from hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland 960 people required treatment for injuries caused by fireworks during the three weeks leading up to 5 November 1987 and the few days after. The figures for 1987 and the preceding four years are shown in the table.

Although the figures are somewhat disappointing, they do not justify further restrictions on the retail sale of fireworks to the public.

We will be mounting a higher profile firework safety campaign again, this year urging the public to treat fireworks with care and not to misuse them. We will be asking local trading standards officers to work closely with the police in enforcing vigorously the increased penalties for selling fireworks to the under-16s and in taking action against those who let off fireworks in the streets.

For its part, the fireworks industry has agreed to stop supplying mini-rockets to the shops, since these particularly lend themselves to misuse by hooligans. It is also making a training video for organisers of displays on how to run a public display safely.

We are also drawing up a British standard for the performance, testing and labelling of fireworks, which should enable us to stop the importation of the more hazardous fireworks from the far east.

1987 1986 1985 1984 1983
3. Large public display 155 119 117 108 111
4. Casual incident in street etc. 364 299 435 298 257
5. Other place 47 52 64 59 54
6. Indoors 20 18 21 17 16
Type of firework
1. Banger 163 161 241 175 184
2. Rocket 174 159 197 115 107
3. Roman candle, coloured fire etc. 96 88 90 103 114
4. Home-made or extracted powder 24 14 27 21 15
5. Other proprietary fireworks 109 118 73 74 78
6. Sparklers 95 80 67 65 95
7. Unspecified type 299 226 273 225 240
Severity of injury
1. Fatal injury 0 — — 1 —
2. Detained more than one night 60 48 53 55 61
3. Sufficient to cause absence from work of equivalent 158 160 231 161 147
4. Minor injury 661 582 632 506 592
5. Unspecified injury 81 56 52 55 33
Eye injuries (included in 2–5) 312 291 341 295 293
Age group of injured persons
1. Over 20 252 235 214 180 215
2. 16 to 20 168 145 161 109 108
3. 13 to 15 220 207 271 208 173
4. Under 13 320 259 322 281 337
Total 960 846 968 778 833