To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has held on tackling gun crime in (a) England and Wales and (b) the West Midlands. (119790)

Gun crime was discussed at the Round Table meeting on guns, knives and gangs that was held at the Home Office on 7 February. The meeting was attended by senior representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers, community members, voluntary bodies and Government Departments. The meeting looked at current work on gun crime, including:

the measures in the Violent Crime Act, which will introduce a ban on the sale, importation and manufacture of realistic imitation firearms, restricts the sale of air weapons, extends the five year minimum sentence to other offences related to possession of prohibited firearms, and introduces a new offence of using someone to mind a weapon;

support for local community work through the Connected Fund and other project funding; and

the work being taken forward by ACPO Criminal Use of Firearms group on prevention, intelligence and enforcement.

The meeting also discussed what other action might be taken. A further meeting will be held in the next few weeks.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms offences were committed in England and Wales in each of the last three years. (119879)

[holding answer 8 February 2007]: Available data relate to the number of offences recorded by the police involving the use of a firearm up to and including 2005-06, and were published on 25 January 2007 in ‘Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2005/2006’ (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 02/07), which is available as an internet-only release at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207.pdf.