(2) how many individuals in each constituency (a) were convicted and (b) received upon conviction a minimum five-year sentence for possessing an illegal firearm in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.
The minimum five year sentence applies only to persons aged 18 or over and came into force for offences committed from 22 January 2004. The information requested, relating to England and Wales for the years 2004 and 2005, is shown in the following table. Information for 2006 will be available in the autumn.
Court proceedings data cannot easily be related to constituency areas as they are collected by police force area and local justice area.
2004 2005 Police force area Total persons sentenced 5 year + custodial term Total persons sentenced 5 year + custodial term Avon and Somerset 12 1 10 3 Bedfordshire 4 1 1 1 Cambridgeshire 5 — — — Cheshire 12 — 4 2 Cleveland 8 — 3 — Cumbria 4 — 1 Derbyshire 7 — 6 4 Devon and Cornwall 11 — 2 1 Dorset 5 1 2 — Durham 6 — 6 1 Essex 22 — 6 — Gloucestershire 3 — 2 — Greater Manchester 62 3 30 15 Hampshire 11 1 6 1 Hertfordshire 6 1 5 1 Humberside 11 — 5 1 Kent 15 2 5 — Lancashire 7 — 8 1 Leicestershire 12 2 6 2 Lincolnshire 5 — 3 — London1 162 36 116 61 Merseyside 41 9 22 10 Norfolk 10 — 4 3 Northamptonshire 5 1 7 3 Northumbria 28 3 5 1 North Yorkshire 4 — — — Nottinghamshire 17 2 10 4 South Yorkshire 14 3 10 7 Staffordshire 8 — 3 — Suffolk 5 1 5 — Surrey 6 — 2 1 Sussex 11 — 7 1 Thames Valley 16 — 4 2 Warwickshire 7 1 — — West Mercia 9 — 3 1 West Midlands 46 5 22 9 West Yorkshire 39 3 9 4 Wiltshire 3 — 2 1 Dyfed-Powys 4 — 1 — Gwent 3 — 1 — North Wales 7 — 3 — South Wales 13 — 6 1 Total 686 76 353 142 1 Metropolitan and City of London police forces Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: RDS-NOMS, Home Office