HC Deb 14 December 1999 vol 341 cc156-8W
Mr. William Ross

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents occurred in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area in England and Wales, where shots were discharged by persons engaged in criminal activity. [102165]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The first table shows for each year 1994 to 1998, the number of firearms (including air weapons) discharged in notifiable offences recorded by the police in each police force area in England and Wales. Information on air weapons discharged during the years 1995 to 1997 is not available centrally.

The second table gives similar information for 1994 and 1998 for all firearms, excluding air weapons.

Numbers of firearms discharged (including air weapons) in notifiable offences recorded by the police, England and Wales 1994 and 19981
Police force 1994 1998
Avon and Somerset 154 186
Bedfordshire 84 107
Cambridgeshire 102 113
Cheshire 61 65
Cleveland 154 191
Cumbria 51 33
Derbyshire 230 270
Devon and Cornwall 136 91
Dorset 30 35
Durham 94 50
Essex 239 279
Gloucestershire 61 79
Greater Manchester 322 558
Hampshire 176 79
Hertfordshire 16 36
Humberside 508 460
Kent 409 203
Lancashire 94 132
Leicestershire 71 71
Lincolnshire 86 75
London, City of
Merseyside 384 586
Metropolitan Police 569 1,305
Norfolk 54 26
Northamptonshire 126 139
Northumbria 321 312
North Yorkshire 101 66
Nottinghamshire 202 538
South Yorkshire 383 322
Staffordshire 210 116
Suffolk 60 12
Surrey 49 25
Sussex 109 206
Thames Valley 236 346
Warwickshire 77 44
West Mercia 110 78
West Midlands 373 531
West Yorkshire 810 896
Wiltshire 11 66
Dyfed Powys 22 39
Gwent 35 163
North Wales 67 77
South Wales 255 243
Total 7,642 9,249
1 Number of air weapons discharged for the years 1995–97 are not available centrally

Numbers of firearms discharged (excluding air weapons) in notifiable offences recorded by the police, England and Wales 1994–98
Police force 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Avon and Somerset 17 16 10 8 12
Bedfordshire 15 12 9 6 7
Cambridgeshire 5 7 5 1 3
Cheshire 7 6 4 1 5
Cleveland 14 5 9 9 4
Cumbria 3 9 2 2
Derbyshire 15 11 9 17 8
Devon and Cornwall 12 4 7 4 34
Dorset 2 2 6 3 4
Durham 1 4 10 5 5
Essex 23 25 14 15 10
Gloucestershire 4 10 7 7 5
Greater Manchester 59 58 55 77 96
Hampshire 17 6 9 5 11
Hertfordshire 5 15 19 10 9
Humberside 5 4 13 11 4
Kent 43 18 13 19 16
Lancashire 8 19 6 15 7
Leicestershire 15 8 12 20 16
Lincolnshire 6 6 2 1 3
London, City of
Merseyside 17 44 60 18 27
Metropolitan Police 190 157 332 412 463
Norfolk 5 8 2 4 4
Northamptonshire 7 9 11 8 12
Northumbria 39 20 28 9 10
North Yorkshire 4 2 5 1
Nottinghamshire 13 15 24 33 42
South Yorkshire 52 30 23 22 22
Staffordshire 21 11 5 2 5
Suffolk 6 3 2
Surrey 5 2 3 4 1
Sussex 18 13 11 20 25
Thames Valley 19 30 38 23 13
Warwickshire 8 2 2 3
West Mercia 11 1 3 13 7 12
West Midlan 57 132 153 73 96
West Yorkshire 27 34 35 16 16
Wiltshire 1 3 4 2
Dyfed Powys 9 4 5 4 2

Population in prisons in England and Wales by nationality, ethnicity and establishment, 31 October 19991
White Black South Asian
Prison British nationals Foreign nationals Not known British nationals Foreign nationals Not brown British nationals Foreign nationals Not known
Acklington 686 5 4 1 7 5
Albany 381 19 12 7 4 3
Altcourse 812 10 1 14 3
Ashwell 380 7 54 4 22 3
Askham Grange 93 22 3 4
Aylesbury 199 7 102 14 12 4
Bedford 282 15 1 31 11 24 12
Belmarsh 480 39 133 44 8 3
Birmingham 751 23 176 20 18 11
Blakenhurst 664 21 2 71 16 1 19 17
Blantyre House 100 2 6 4 1 2
Blundeston 211 12 67 29 7 1 1
Brinsford 371 4 1 80 7 27 1
Bristol 490 10 54 6 1 1
Brixton 347 65 181 102 6 14
Brockhill 121 2 1 18 4 4 2
Buckley Hall 314 7 37 4 12 1

Numbers of firearms discharged (excluding air weapons) in notifiable offences recorded by the police, England and Wales 1994—
Police force 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Gwent 5 6 4 7 2
North Wales 4 6 10 2 8
South Wales 10 5 9 5 5
Total 803 782 992 916 1,030

Mr. William Ross

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in each of the last five years and the current year to date how many illegally held(a) shotguns, (b).22 rifles, (c) rifles of greater calibre than.22, (d) handguns and (e) other firearms were seized by the police in each police force area in England and Wales. [102162]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mr. William Ross

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many homicides were committed using(a) shotguns, (b) rifles, (c) handguns and (d) other firearms, in each police force area in England and Wales in each of the last five years and the current year; and how many homicides were committed by the use of a legally held firearm used by the owner, shown by the type of weapon used. [102166]

Mr. Charles Clarke

Tables that have been placed in the Library give the requested information, including the legal status of the firearm where this was known.

All the data for 1998, and the legally held data for 1995 to 1998 is provisional.

No information is yet available for 1999.

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