Written question asked by Jim Cunningham (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 January 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 23 January 2015 (named day). It was answered by Mike Penning (Conservative) on Friday, 23 January 2015 on behalf of the Home Office.

Police: Firearms

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times armed police were deployed in the UK in each of the last five years.

Answer: The Home Office does not hold information on response times by firearms units. Decisions on firearms unit provision is a matter for individual Chief Officers. Chief Officers will assess the threat, risk and geography in their force area
to ensure that they have sufficient armed capability to respond effectively.

Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, to be absolutely sure that we have the right number of officers, with the rights skills and equipment, in the right places, we are working with police to review the arrangements for responding to terrorist firearms attacks.

Statistics on police use of firearms in England and Wales are published on an annual basis by the Home Office. The most recent publication was on 27 March 2014. The statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-use-of-firearms-statistics

Secondary information