asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide for the latest convenient date the number of police officers in England and Wales trained in the use of firearms.

It is for individual chief officers of police to decide how many police officers should be trained in the use of firearms. Fgures are not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the minimum age limits for (a) buying a certificate, (b) purchasing, (c) possessing and (d) carrying in a public place the following weapons (i) firearms, (ii) shot guns, (iii) air rifles under 12 ft. lbs. kinetic energy, (iv) air rifles over 12 ft. lbs. kinetic energy, (iv) air pistols under 6 ft. lbs. kinetic energy and (vi) air pistols over 6 ft. lbs. kinetic energy.

The detailed information requested is in sections 1, 11, 22 and 23 of the Firearms Act 1968 and the Firearms (Dangerous Air Weapons) Rules 1969.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) for the years 1977 and 1978, on how many occasions guns were discharged by police officers in the course of their duties; and how many injuries and killings resulted from those discharges;(2) for the years 1977 and 1978, what was the total number of occasions on which guns were issued to police officers in England and Wales; and what was the total number of guns issued to police officers in those years.

I am arranging for the relevant information to be collated and will write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for the years since 1972, what was the total number of indictable offences in England and Wales recorded by the police in which air weapons were reported to have been used, classified by offence group.

Figures for 1977 and 1978 are published in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—table 3.4 of the volume for 1977, Cmnd. 7289, and of the volume for 1978, Cmnd. 7670. Figures for 1972–6 are shown in the following table.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for the years 1972, 1975 and 1978, what was the total number of indictable offences in England and Wales where air weapons were used.

The information requested is published in table 3.6 of "Criminal Statistics' England and Wales 1978"—Cmnd. 7670.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for the years 1972, 1975 and 1978, what was the total number of indictable offences in England and Wales where air weapons were used which resulted in personal injury; and, for each year, how many such injuries were (a) fatal, (b) serious or (c) slight.

In 1972, 1,000 indictable offences were recorded by the police in England and Wales in which air weapons were reported to have caused injury—1 fatal, 101 serious and 898 slight.