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2 July 2007 : Column 925W—continued
Police: Horses
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual cost was in the last three years of each mounted police section. [146683]
Mr. McNulty: The Government allocate funding to police authorities. The allocation of resources within each force is a matter for the chief officer and the police authority. We do not hold information centrally on resources for mounted police sections.
Police: Protective Clothing
John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2007, Official Report, column 2078W, on Police: protective clothing, what guidelines her Department issues to chief officers of police on the selection, purchase and issue of body armour for on-duty police officers. [146105]
Mr. McNulty: Decisions about the selection, purchase and issue of body armour are for chief officers of police. All officers should have access to a range of body armour, either on an individual or shared basis, dependant on their role. In reaching decisions about what protective equipment to issue, chief officers have the benefit of expert advice provided by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) and the standards they produce. Body armour supplied to the vast majority of police officers in the UK now offers a dual protection level of knife and ballistic resistance as detailed in the HOSDB Standard.
Police: Safety Measures
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what risk assessment she has commissioned on the health and safety of police officers during a (a) chemical, (b) biological, (c) radiological and (d) nuclear incident. [146627]
Mr. McNulty: Such risk assessments are an operational matter for the police and are not commissioned by the Home Office.
Police: Stun Guns
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) injured and (b) killed due to the firing of a stun gun by the police since April 2003; and during what type of operations. [146553]
Mr. McNulty: There have been no deaths in the UK directly attributable to police use of Taser. There have been no injuries directly attributable to police use of Taser beyond the expected injury caused by Taser barbs penetrating or puncturing the skin on impact.
Independent medical advice from the Defence Scientific Advisory Council's Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons (DOMILL) examine all the available medical reports where Taser has been used and are content that the medical issues attributable directly or indirectly to Taser use are not unexpected and are addressed by their statements to Ministers. DOMILL has issued three statements on the medical implications of the use of the Taser. Its view is that the risk of death from primary injury with high power laser is low and certainly very much lower than that from conventional firearms.
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions Taser stun guns have been used by each police force since April 2003; and in what type of operation they were used. [146559]
Mr. McNulty: Taser is currently available to authorised firearms officers as a less lethal alternative for use in situations where a firearms authority has been granted in accordance with criteria laid down in the ACPO Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms. Taser is deployed alongside conventional weapons providing the police with an additional tactical option that is less lethal than conventional firearms.
Information on the occasions when Taser has been used is set out in the following tables.
Since April 2003, there have been 619 incidents at which the device has been used operationally. This can be broken down as follows:
| Uses of laser (at 31 December 2006, England and Wales) | |
| Number | |
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