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Firearms Amnesty

Viscount Ullswater asked Her Majesty's Government:

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Baroness Blatch: During the course of the recent amnesty, nearly 23,000 firearms, 700,000 rounds of ammunition and 3,000 other weapons were surrendered to police forces in Great Britain. We are very pleased with the response. Every one of the thousands of

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weapons which have been handed in no longer poses a threat to the community. The following table gives a detailed summary of the types of firearm surrendered to each force:

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Summary of firearms and other weapons and ammunition surrendered to the police during the firearms amnesty June 1996 by police force area
Number of items surrendered

Total firearms
Police force areaRiflesSmooth-bore gunsHand gunsOther firearmsAll firearmsTotal other weaponsTotal rounds of ammunition
Avon and Somerset303542072878784116,410
Bedfordshire12862154173155,200
Cambridgeshire21149479130878,066
Cheshire37137691333761911,969
Cleveland5532711319804,043
Cumbria2914480112365137,243
Derbyshire3587811343372010,730
Devon and Cornwall1254502392961,1107110,733
Dorset531931101655215524,321
Durham181086111830524,774
Essex6836112324179322315,994
Gloucestershire301102314731045,200
Greater Manchester218697216420517,981
Hampshire71293035271622727,500
Hertfordshire1357375416145,366
Humberside20109814925919811,021
Kent502151331905886314,909
Lancashire26185882055043637,938
Leicestershire26149671624044311,490
Lincolnshire442665799466613,909
London, City of0105601,569
Merseyside163970120245365,948
Metropolitan Police702062834971,0561134,895
Norfolk2028979217605515,155
Northamptonshire1686586222252,411
Northumbria44101109174428516,499
North Yorkshire261306887311179,259
Nottinghamshire11200842175121810,338
South Yorkshire17811391153521809,860
Staffordshire24155711734235920,635
Suffolk573241071626507916,468
Surrey32111941313689112,960
Sussex7328220831087311635,002
Thames Valley1023162112358645320,917
Warwickshire1580486921259,666
West Mercia29244851685262414,047
West Midlands391291263035975519,306
West Yorkshire2497831453495196,938
Wiltshire55221611084451715,180
Total England1,4046,6843,6326,51618,2362,347541,850
Dyfed Powys4329211741493425,047
Gwent1740223111011,366
North Wales211486598332015,464
South Wales2014174105340447,309
Total Wales1016212782751,2754949,186
Total England and Wales1,5057,3053,9106,79119,5112,396591,036
Central Scotland24833078215333,035
Dumfries and Galloway401442675285324,983
Fife20126301313079812,900
Grampian402987613354711613,120
Lothian and Borders50141642424972914,455
Northern7017251753682618,504
Strathclyde782841953799364530,805
Tayside32966085273876,359
Total Scotland3541,3445321,1983,428466104,161
Total Great Britain1,8598,6494,4427,98922,9392,862695,197

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Prisoners: Time Spent in Cells

Baroness Mallalieu asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What was the average time spent in cells by (a) remand prisoners and (b) convicted prisoners at Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs, Belmarsh, Brixton and Pentonville prisons respectively in each week since the end of April 1996; what were the figures for the equivalent period in 1995; and what are the reasons for any significant changes.

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

Letter to Baroness Mallalieu from the Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 23rd July 1996.


    Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the average time spent in cells by prisoners since the end of April 1996 and the respective period for 1995 at Wandsworth, Belmarsh, Wormwood Scrubs, Brixton and Pentonville prisons.


    The information supplied in the attached table is derived from local regime monitoring which is provided to Prison Service headquarters. The data collected in 1995 did not distinguish between remand and convicted prisoners and therefore combined averages for these prisons have been provided.


    There have been some changes in the time spent in cells which are reflected in the following assessments.

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    Belmarsh

The level of category A escorts undertaken has increased significantly since 1995. Staff had to be redeployed from internal activities to carry out these increased commitments.

Brixton

It is anticipated that there will be a reduction in the time prisoners spend in cells this year. Changes in the regime have been limited with the reopening of two recently refurbished wings. In addition to this, Brixton has opened a unit for life sentenced prisoners this month.

Pentonville

The governor of Pentonville has expressed his concern about the accuracy of data collated in 1995. He has since taken steps to address this problem and has improved the collection of information for 1996-97. In view of this, no strict comparison between the periods under review is worthwhile, although the governor believes there has been little change.

Wandsworth

Although monitoring shows an increase in time spent in cell, all the usual indicators suggest a settled prisoner population. The introduction of the half day of employment alternating with education, group work and visits has improved the quality of regime activities available.

Wormwood Scrubs

Following the requirement to implement some of the Woodcock and Learmont security recommendations it has proved necessary to redeploy staff from association and other out of cell activities to carry out routine security searches.

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Average time in cellRemandAverage time in cellConvictedAverage time in cell
Belmarsh
April 199513.8April 199614.92April 199614.92
May 199614.92May 199614.92
June 199614.92June 199514.92
Brixton
April 1995(1)15.43April 199615.55April 199615.55
May 199615.91May 199615.91
June 199615.33June 199615.33
Pentonville
April 1995(1)13.5April 199615.5April 199615.5
May 199615.5May 199615.5
June 199615.5June 199615.5
Wandsworth
April 1995(1)14April 199616.9April 199617.02
May 199616.88May 199616.67
June 199616.88June 199616.88
Wormwood Scrubs
April 1995(1)14.38April 199616.75April 199615
May 199616.75May 199615
June 199616.75June 199615

(1) Average time spent in cell for remand and convicted prisoners.


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