---

HOME DEPARTMENT

Firemen

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) fatalities and (b) injuries have been suffered by firemen in the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [29048]

Mr. Sackville: The information is given in the table.

Deaths and injuries of fire brigade personnel while on duty in England and Wales 1992 to 1994-95

	England and Wales
Year	Deaths	Injuries(1)
1992	3	861
1993(2) Q1	0	276
1993-94	3	797
1994-95	(3)1	737

Notes:

(1) Injuries are defined as those which result in absence of duty for at least one month or two weeks or more of hospitalisation.

(2) January to March 1993, followed by financial years--April to March.

(3) Died of natural causes attending a call.

Source:

Home Office.

Firearms

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in each of the last two year, how many (a) pistols, (b) other handguns, (c) sub-machine guns, (d) rifles, (e) other firearms and (f) shotguns seized subsequently by the police, or surrendered under amnesty to the police, in (i) Manchester, (ii) Liverpool and (iii) the Metropolitan police areas, have been used in a crime, or have been seized by the police as being in the possession of persons conspiring to commit a crime; how many had been previously deactivated in accordance with the requirements of the Firearms Act 1988, and subsequently illegally reactivated; and in each category, how many were fitted with a sound modulator or silencer. [29277]

Mr. Maclean: Information on seizures of firearms, on sound moderators and on silencers is not available. There have been no firearms amnesties in the areas referred to in the past two years.

I shall write to the hon. Member with the available information about illegally reactivated firearms, which is being obtained from the Forensic Science Service.

16 May 1996 : Column: 526

Prisoners (Drugs)

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down by class the illegal drugs found on prisoners in England and Wales in the last available year; what assessment he has made of the advantage of restricting the visiting privileges available to prisoners who are tested positive for drug use and found in possession of illegal drugs; and if he will make a statement. [29394]

Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 16 May 1996:

The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking for a break down by class of illegal drugs found on prisoners; and for an assessment of the advantage of restricting the visiting privileges available to prisoners who test positive for drugs and who are found in possession of illegal drugs.
Information is held centrally about drug finds reported by establishments and includes finds in various locations as well as finds on prisoners. Information relating to finds on prisoners could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The breakdown by class of the illegal drugs finds reported by prisons in England and Wales during the 1995/96 financial year is shown in the table below.

	Number
Class A	1,019
Class B	7,020
Class C	81
Total	8,120




There were a further 404 finds for which no classification is available. As part of its drugs strategy, the Prison Service is introducing in a number of prisons, on a trial basis, mandatory closed or non contact visits for any prisoner found, through mandatory drug testing to have misused drugs, or who is known or reasonably suspected to have dealt in drugs in any way. This initiative will be carefully assessed and evaluated to see whether it should be extended to the rest of the prison estate.

Drug Misuse

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement as to the estimated percentage of non-drug offences which arise from, or are connected with, the misuse of drugs by male offenders in the 14 to 21 years age group. [29391]

16 May 1996 : Column: 527

Mr. Sackville: It is not currently possible to estimate with any accuracy the percentage of drug-related crime committed by male offenders in the 14 to 21 years age group.

Mr. Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has commissioned concerning the relationship between the misuse of illegal drugs and other non-drug offences; and if he will make a statement. [29392]

Mr. Sackville: Research has been commissioned by the Home Office into the nature and incidence of drug-related crime, and projects currently in progress include interviewing and testing people arrested by the police to establish the extent of their drug misuse, obtaining information on how crack-cocaine addicts fund their habits and the impact of treatment programmes on offending behaviour.

Police Authorities

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the expenditure for each of the police authorities in England in 1995-96, their planned expenditure in 1996-97 and the percentage change in each case. [29616]

Mr. Maclean: The information requested is set out in the table.

	Planned revenue expenditure in 1995-96		Planned revenue expenditure in 1996-97
	Budget	Percentage increase over 1994-95	Spending power(4)	Percentage increase over 1995-96
Force	£ million		£ million
Avon and Somerset	147.75	7.2	154.62	4.6
Berdfordshire	55.4	10.6	57.54	3.9
Cambridgeshire	62.73	8.7	66.42	5.9
Cheshire	93.14	10.4	98.53	5.8
City of London	61.33	5.8	63.26	3.2
Cleveland	70.74	6.3	73.42	3.8
Cumbria	55.01	2.5	58.08	5.6
Derbyshire	88.29	7.9	92.49	4.8
Devon and Cornwall	146.5	6.2	153.5	4.8
Dorset	65.54	2.5	68.09	3.9
Durham	67.96	14.6	71.54	5.3
Essex	147.8	2.5	153.49	3.9
Gloucestershire	56.35	5.4	58.54	3.9
Greater Manchester	327.13	4.0	342.79	4.8
Hampshire	169.0	10.4	175.58	3.9
Hertfordshire	87.04	10.8	90.43	3.9
Humberside	98.11	8.9	103.11	5.2
Kent	158.1	5.4	164.22	3.9
Lancashire	155.47	6.7	163.56	5.2
Leicestershire	89.85	14.7	94.82	5.5
Lincolnshire	60.4	4.7	63.32	4.8
Merseyside	218.56	2.5	226.74	3.7
Metropolitan police	1,687.83	1.6	1,717.0	1.7
Norfolk	71.17	11.4	76.01	6.8
Northamptonshire	59.19	1.5	62.03	4.8
Northumbria	179.64	10.1	188.22	4.8
North Yorkshire	66.66	8.2	69.65	4.5
Nottinghamshire	110.23	10.4	115.24	4.5
South Yorkshire	147.22	7.6	154.78	5.1
Staffordshire	102.18	2.5	109.89	7.5
Suffolk	58.45	4.6	61.77	5.7
Surrey	84.1	2.5	87.33	3.8
Sussex	145.78	16.1	151.44	3.9
Thames Valley	194.41	2.5	204.06	5.0
Warwickshire	47.66	5.3	49.51	3.9
West Mercia	97.79	4.3	103.59	5.9
West Midlands	329.28	4.3	344.21	4.5
West Yorkshire	249.83	3.7	260.79	4.4
Wiltshire	59.29	2.5	61.58	3.9

(4) This figure is the total of the budget set by the police authority and the special grant for additional police officers in 1996-97.

16 May 1996 : Column: 528

Police Grant

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the police grant for each English police authority in (a) 1995-96 and (b) 1996-97; what was the percentage change; and how much that represents (i) per resident and (ii) per elector in each authority area. [29591]

Mr. Maclean: The information available is set out in the table. Numbers of electors are not available by police authority area. Numbers of electors by London boroughs, counties and districts are published by the Office for National Statistics in "Electoral Statistics 1995" (series EL No. 22), a copy of which is in the Library.

16 May 1996 : Column: 527

	Police grant paid in 1995-96	Police grant paid in 1996-97	Percentage change over 1995-96	Amount per head of population 1995-96 (5)	Amount per head of population 1996-97 (5)
England	£	£	£	£	£
Avon and Somerset	73,080,634	77,278,260	5.74	50	53
Bedfordshire	27,538,879	28,811,092	4.62	51	53
Cambridgeshire	31,136,129	33,348,537	7.11	45	48
Cheshire	46,286,157	49,500,131	6.94	47	51
City of London	26,753,210	27,831,884	4.03	5,119	5,326
Cleveland	35,134,959	36,816,273	4.79	63	66
Cumbria	26,869,743	28,688,560	6.77	55	59
Derbyshire	43,763,201	46,355,758	5.92	46	49
Devon and Cornwall	72,710,706	77,025,454	5.93	48	50
Dorset	30,950,898	32,474,611	4.92	46	48
Durham	33,683,229	35,827,979	6.37	55	59
Essex	72,744,989	76,160,629	4.70	49	51
Gloucestershire	27,919,401	29,317,079	5.01	51	53
Greater Manchester	162,401,953	171,880,949	5.84	63	67
Hampshire	83,989,820	88,068,573	4.86	49	51
Hertfordshire	43,244,815	45,304,535	4.76	51	53
Humberside	48,701,807	51,746,268	6.25	55	58
Kent	78,591,413	82,321,694	4.75	51	53
Lancashire	77,102,214	81,970,295	6.31	54	58
Leicestershire	44,419,616	47,395,525	6.70	48	52
Lincolnshire	27,459,730	29,232,699	6.46	45	48
Merseyside	106,672,413	112,588,958	5.55	74	78
Metropolitan police	827,595,814	846,761,947	2.32	111	114
Norfolk	35,376,168	38,205,064	8.00	46	50
Northamptonshire	27,592,869	29,320,943	6.26	46	49
Northumbria	88,858,912	94,046,011	5.84	62	65
North Yorkshire	33,100,745	34,961,340	5.62	46	48
Nottinghamshire	54,493,281	57,583,603	5.67	53	56
South Yorkshire	73,046,395	77,594,905	6.23	56	59
Staffordshire	50,200,542	54,610,654	8.78	48	52
Suffolk	29,042,990	31,033,584	6.85	45	48
Surrey	40,052,299	42,090,281	5.09	52	54
Sussex	72,343,209	75,763,690	4.73	50	52
Thames Valley	95,749,532	101,658,543	6.17	47	50
Warwickshire	23,595,032	24,725,312	4.79	48	50
West Mercia	48,154,173	51,605,192	7.17	43	46
West Midlands	163,211,148	172,342,961	5.60	62	66
West Yorkshire	123,524,528	130,447,666	5.60	59	62
Wiltshire	29,074,837	30,427,811	4.65	49	52

(5) Resident population at 30 June 1994--Source: Office for National Statistics (Office of Population Censuses and Surveys).

16 May 1996 : Column: 529

16 May 1996 : Column: 529

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the Welsh Office police grant to each police authority in Wales in (a) 1995-96 and (b) 1996-97; how much that represents per

16 May 1996 : Column: 530

(i) resident and (ii) elector in each authority area; and what was the percentage difference in each case between 1995-96 and 1996-97.

Mr. Maclean: The information is set out in the table.

16 May 1996 : Column: 529

Police authority(6)	Police grant paid in 1995-96	Police grant paid in 1996-97	Percentage change over 1995-96	Amount per head of population 1995-96(7)	Amount per head of population 1996-97(8)	Percentage change over 1995-96	Amount per elector 1995-96(7)	Amount per elector 1996-97(8)	Percentage change over 1995-96
	£	£		£	£		£	£
Dyfed-Powys	22,839,951	24,241,009	6.13	48.28	51.07	5.77	61.41	60.98	-0.71
Gwent	24,476,607	31,333,758	28.02	54.12	56.30	4.03	72.86	59.04	-23.39
North Wales	32,701,794	34,681,073	6.05	49.73	52.87	6.31	63.94	64.07	0.21
South Wales	75,959,258	75,246,910	-0.94	57.11	61.38	7.49	75.92	82.44	7.90

(6) The figures represent those grants paid in the respective years. Between the two settlements, there were boundary changes involving the district of Rhymney Valley, which moved from South Wales to Gwent police authority and three communities which moved from North Wales police authority to Dyfed-Powys police authority.

(7) Resident population at 30 June 1994--Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS).

(8) Resident population at 30 June 1994 adjusted to reflect boundary changes--Source: ONS.

16 May 1996 : Column: 529

---