Written question asked by Nigel Evans (Conservative) on Wednesday, 7 May 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 May 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Firearms: Lancashire

Question: (2) how many people under the age of 18 years were (a) arrested and (b) convicted for (i) offences involving the use of firearms and (ii) violent offences involving the use of firearms in Lancashire in each of the last five years;

Answer: [holding answer 12 March 2008]: The requested data are not available centrally.Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person or used as a threat.The arrests collection undertaken by the Ministry of Justice provides data on persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) by age group, gender, ethnicity and main offence group, i.e. violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, burglary etc. From data reported centrally we are not able to identify specific offences from within the main offence groups.The data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the court proceedings database do not contain information about the circumstances behind each case beyond the description provided in the statute under which prosecutions are brought. For example, it is not possible to identify how many (i) offences and (ii) violent offences involved the use of a firearm. As a result the information requested on court proceedings is not available.

Secondary information