Gun Crime

Dr. Kumar
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving firearms have occurred in each of the last eight years in (a) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Constituency, (b) Teesside and (c) England per head of population; and if he will break down the figures to show those (i) involving airguns and (ii) resulting in fatalities. [114292]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth
Details of recorded crimes involving firearms are not collected on a constituency basis. Available information on the number of recorded crimes and homicides involving firearms in the Cleveland police force area and England is given in the table.-----------
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|1994     |
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|1995     |
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|1996     |
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|1997     |
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|1998–99  |
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|1999–2000|
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|2000–01  |
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|2001–02  |
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There was a change in counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which would have had the effect of increasing the number of offences counted. Similarly, some police forces adopted the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard in advance of its national implementation on 1 April 2002, and this may also have tended to increase the number of crimes counted, particularly in 2001–02.