To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when the majority of police forces in England and Wales will be equipped with Taser stun guns; (242560)

In 2004, following a trial in five forces, the then Home Secretary agreed that chief officers of all police forces in England and Wales could make Taser available to authorised firearms officers as a less lethal option for use in situations where a firearms authority had been granted in accordance with criteria laid down in the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms.

The Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) announced on 19 July 2007 that authorised police firearms officers in England and Wales would be able to use Taser in a wider set of circumstances. These officers are now able to deploy Taser in operations or incidents where the use of firearms is not authorised, but where they are facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves or the subject.

Following the success of a 12 month trial in ten police forces, the Home Secretary agreed on 24 November 2008 to allow Chief Officers of all forces in England and Wales, from 1 December 2008, to extend the use of Taser to specially trained units in accordance with current Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) policy and guidance. This sets out that Taser can only be used by specially trained units where officers would be facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the subject(s).

The cost of supplying Tasers to all forces in England and Wales is dependent on the operational decisions of Chief Officers on deployment of Taser. The Home Secretary announced on 24 November 2008 that the Home Office would be making available a one-off injection of funding to support the purchase of up to 10,000 Tasers for use by police forces in England and Wales.