Written question asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Wilcox (Conservative) on Monday, 30 January 2012.

Firearms

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Wilcox on 19 January (WA 148), why they do not collect information on deaths and injuries by firearms identified as re-exported; and whether they will bring forward proposals to collect it.

Answer: It is not clear how such statistics could be compiled: either those treating injured persons would need to have prior knowledge that the injuries were sustained by re-exported goods originating in the UK, before categorising the injuries inflicted and reporting them to us; or those using re-exported weapons would have to report to us the number of persons killed or injured by those weapons. The difficulties of either approach appear to be insurmountable. Therefore the Government do not intend to bring forward proposals to attempt to collect such information.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 15076; 734 c289WA
Session: 2010-12
Related items: Firearms
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Death Arms trade Firearms Injuries Statistics
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk