§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many guns are owned by the police for their use, setting out separately pistols, shotguns, rifles, semi-automatic and automatic weapons; how many policemen are qualified to use firearms; and how many armed response units are available on average at any one time(a) in each constabulary and (b) nationally.
§ Mr. Charles WardleFigures for police firearms and average numbers of armed response vehicles are not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Certain other related information is provided each year by police forces in England and Wales. At 31 December 1992, the latest date for which information is available, there were 6,850 authorised firearms officers. There were 1,669 operations involving armed response vehicles during that year. Thirty one forces currently operate armed response vehicles.