To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many crimes involving firearms were committed in each of the last five years in (a) the East Devon constituency, (b) Devon and (c) Cornwall; [109613](2) how many deaths involving firearms there were in the last five years in

Details of firearm offences have not been collected by parliamentary constituency, and Devon and Cornwall comprise a single police force area. Available published data for the Devon and Cornwall police force on the number of recorded homicide offences and recorded crimes in which firearms (including air weapons) were reported to have been used are given in the table.

Number of firearm crimes in Devon and Cornwall
	Homicides	Total offences involving firearms
1997	0	94
1998–99	1	144
1999–2000	1	140
2000–01	1	111

Numbers of firearms offences were published on a calendar year basis up to 1997, and on a financial year basis thereafter. There was a change of counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998 which had the effect of increasing the number of crimes counted. Numbers of recorded crimes before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms have been surrendered to the police as part of the Trident gun amnesty campaign. [110591]

As at 23 April, 1,485 guns, 34,677 rounds of ammunition and 522 other weapons had been handed in to the Metropolitan Police as part of the national firearms amnesty. The amnesty finished on 30 April and final figures are now being collected.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving a firearm were committed in the UK in (a) 1979, (b) 1983, (c) 1987, (d) 1992, (e) 1997, (f) 2001 and (g) 2002. [110592]

The numbers of recorded offences involving firearms in England and Wales for the years in question are given in the table.

Number of firearm offences (including air weapons)
Year	Number of offences
1979	6,547
1983	7,961
1987	9,002
1992	13,341
1997	12,410
2000–01	17,697
2001–02	22,314

Numbers of firearms offences were published on a calendar year basis up to 1997, and on a financial year basis thereafter.There was a change of counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which will have the effect of increasing the number of crimes counted. Numbers of recorded crimes before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable. As a result of some police forces adopting the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in advance of its official introduction across England and Wales on 1 April 2002, numbers of offences recorded in 2000–01 and 2001–02 may also have been inflated.