§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are able to state the number of persons holding a firearm or shotgun certificate on 31 December 1997 in respect of each police licensing authority in the United Kingdom, and the total number of such certificates; and, if not, when they expect to be able to give these figures. [HL3430]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe following table gives the available information, which relates to the numbers of firearm and shotgun certificates on issue on 31 December 1997. Figures for Scotland were published in a statistical bulletin in July, and those for Northern Ireland were published in the Chief Constable's annual report in September. Figures for England and Wales will be published within the next 201WA month, and the figures given in the table are currently provisional.
202WA
Firearms and shotgun certificates on issue on 31 December 1997 Police force Firearms certificates Shotgun certificates Avon and Somerset 5,062 21,722 Bedfordshire 1,336 6,850 Cambridgeshire 2,670 14,701 Cheshire 2,677 13,114 Cleveland 815 2,593 Cumbria 3,247 10,746 Derbyshire 2,417 12,341 Devon and Cornwall 8,632 36,628 Dorset 2,794 12,472 Durham 2,163 6,632 Essex 3,861 20,619 Gloucestershire 2,379 11,826 Greater Manchester 2,127 9,066 Hampshire 5,074 21,535 Hertfordshire 1,866 9,698 Humberside 2,818 10,330 Kent 3,856 21,588 Lancashire 2,777 12,574 Leicestershire 1,796 11,288 Lincolnshire 3,552 16,325 London, City of 33 33 Merseyside 1,465 4,335 Metropolitan 7,712 33,295 Norfolk 3,556 21,775 Northamptonshire 2,205 9,554 Northumbria 3,531 9,450 North Yorkshire 5,615 19,071 Nottinghamshire 1,789 12,716 South Yorkshire 1,627 8,324
Firearms and shotgun certificates on issue on 31 December 1997 Police force Firearms certificates Shotgun certificates Staffordshire 2,538 14,867 Suffolk 3,627 17,979 Surrey 2,278 11,325 Sussex 5,770 22,356 Thames Valley 6,429 29,975 Warwickshire 1,800 9,606 West Mercia 5,414 30,063 West Midlands 1,942 10,603 West Yorkshire 3,004 11,559 Wiltshire 2,724 11,808 Dyfed-Powys 3,345 20,349 Gwent 940 7,291 North Wales 2,339 13,741 South Wales 1,994 10,356 Total England and Wales 133,596 623,0791 Central 1,087 2,984 Dumfries and Galloway 2,227 4,985 Fife 1,456 3,945 Grampian 5,856 11,553 Lothian and Borders 3,976 9,183 Northern 8,060 10,489 Strathclyde 4,748 12,639 Tayside 3,684 7,437 Total Scotland 31,094 63,215 Northern Ireland 83,753 —2 Total United Kingdom 248,443 686,294 1 All figures for England and Wales are provisional. 2 All firearms, including shotguns, are held on firearms certificates in Northern Ireland.