Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally.

The information held on firearm offences cannot be broken down into specific air weapon types. Data is available on the total number of air weapon offences recorded by the eight Scottish police forces in the Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms statistical bulletin:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubFirearms.

Firearm offences in which an air weapon was alleged to have been used and an accused was identified, by age of main accused and police force area, Scotland, 2006-07 to 2009-10:

Age of Accused by Police Force Area

	2006-07			2007-08			2008-091			2009-10
	15 or under	16-20	21 or over	15 or under	16-20	21 or over	15 or under	16-20	21 or over	15 or under	16-20	21 or over
Central	1	1	6	1	2	1	1	4	7	1	2	3
Dumfries and Galloway	2	3	5	3	6	4	2	2	2	1	2	4
Fife	3	8	16	7	4	8	2	6	10	13	10	5
Grampian	-	6	7	2	2	8	-	1	5	-	1	1
Lothian and Borders	9	24	18	10	27	14	7	13	18	10	22	16
Northern	1	3	3	5	13	8	-	4	9	1	4	16
Strathclyde	54	80	108	56	92	86	41	37	64	37	43	63
Tayside	2	6	4	2	6	4	-	6	8	-	3	7
Grand Total	72	131	167	86	152	133	53	73	123	63	87	115

Source: Scottish Government, Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland statistical bulletin series.

Notes: 1. Data revised to include figures for Fife Constabulary for Quarter 1 of 2008-09. This data was not included in either the 2008-09 or 2009-10 Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland publication. This omission is believed to have a negligible impact upon the overall results and trends of the firearm offences bulletin and will be rectified at the earliest opportunity.

Firearm offences in which an air weapon was alleged to have been used and an accused was identified, by age of main accused and local authority area, Scotland, 2006-07 to 2009-10:

Age of Accused by Local Authority Area

	2006-07			2007-08			2008-091			2009-10
	15 or under	16-20	21 or over	15 or under	16-20	21 or over	15 or under	16-20	21 or over	15 or under	16-20	21 or over
Aberdeen City	-	3	2	2	-	5	-	-	4	-	-	-
Aberdeenshire	-	-	2	-	-	2	-	1	1	-	1	1
Angus	2	1	2	1	1	1	-	-	1	-	2	2
Argyll and Bute	3	-	2	-	5	4	-	3	1	2	-	2
Clackmannanshire	-	1	2	1	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2	3	5	3	6	4	2	2	2	1	2	4
Dundee	-	3	1	-	5	3	-	4	1	-	-	2
East Ayrshire	2	5	13	4	12	7	3	6	6	6	2	2
East Dunbartonshire	-	11	-	2	2	4	2	-	4	2	-	2
East Lothian	-	4	2	3	10	5	1	-	2	-	2	-
East Renfrewshire	-	-	3	2	3	8	-	-	2	1	-	2
Edinburgh City	6	8	10	5	3	8	3	3	4	7	15	6
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	7
Falkirk	1	-	3	-	1	1	-	1	3	-	1	1
Fife	3	8	16	7	4	8	2	6	10	13	10	5
Glasgow City	16	26	22	13	26	27	11	8	18	10	12	15
Highland	-	3	3	5	9	5	-	4	8	1	4	9
Inverclyde	-	4	1	-	2	3	5	1	-	-	3	1
Midlothian	1	4	-	-	2	-	1	1	-	-	4	2
Moray	-	3	3	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	1	8	10	8	4	5	4	5	2	6	5	8
North Lanarkshire	15	12	24	13	11	7	9	5	14	3	5	15
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	-	2	1	1	-	-	-	2	6	-	1	3
Renfrewshire	1	2	4	1	13	10	-	1	7	1	-	-
Scottish Borders	-	2	3	-	2	1	-	7	9	-	-	3
Shetland Islands	1	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	3	2	8	2	3	5	1	2	5	2	2	2
South Lanarkshire	8	3	14	6	5	5	2	5	3	3	9	12
Stirling	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	3	4	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	5	7	7	5	6	1	4	1	2	1	5	2
West Lothian	2	6	3	2	10	-	2	2	3	3	1	5
Scotland	72	131	167	86	152	133	53	73	123	63	87	115

Source: Scottish Government, Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland statistical bulletin series.

Note: 1. Data revised to include figures for Fife Constabulary for Quarter 1 of 2008-09. This data was not included in either the 2008-09 or 2009-10 Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland publication. This omission is believed to have a negligible impact upon the overall results and trends of the firearm offences bulletin and will be rectified at the earliest opportunity.

The Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2009-10 statistical bulletin was published on 26 October 2010 and can be found here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/10/25143316/0.

This information is not held centrally.

The information held on firearm offences cannot be broken down into specific air weapon types. Data is available on the total number of air weapon offences recorded by the eight Scottish police forces in the Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms statistical bulletin:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubFirearms.

We have no record of any representations on this issue from the police or medical professionals.

The Scottish Government has not made any representations to the UK Government on the specific issue of BB guns. We have, however, made clear our wish to see responsibility for all firearms devolved to the Scottish Parliament and will continue to press the UK Government on this issue. In the meantime, we are monitoring progress on the current proposal in the Scotland Bill which will, if passed, see responsibility for air weapons devolved to Scotland.

The specific information requested is not available centrally as there are no exact ICD-10 diagnosis codes which solely relate to air weapons. However, there are several other and unspecified firearms discharge codes, which can be used to record injuries by BB guns, airguns, unspecified gunshot wounds, unspecified shots or Very pistols (flares). These codes have been used to provide the following information.

The following table shows information on the number of inpatient and day case episodes in general acute hospitals in Scotland in the last four financial years due to other and unspecified firearms discharges.

Number of Hospital Episodes due to Other and Unspecified Firearm Discharges; by NHS Board of Treatment and Financial Year

NHS Board of Treatment	Financial Year
	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	10	*	6	*
NHS Borders	*	-	-	*
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	*	-	-	*
NHS Fife	*	11	*	5
NHS Forth Valley	-	5	*	-
NHS Grampian	15	*	*	*
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	39	38	21	20
NHS Highland	6	*	*	8
NHS Lanarkshire	9	8	11	10
NHS Lothian	15	12	10	9
NHS Tayside	5	9	10	*
Island Boards	*	*	-	*
NHS Scotland	109	92	68	68

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.

Note: *Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure and to help maintain patient confidentiality.

The specific information requested is not available centrally as there are no exact ICD-10 diagnosis codes which solely relate to BB guns. However, there are several other and unspecified firearms discharge codes, which can be used to record injuries by BB guns, airguns, unspecified gunshot wounds, unspecified shots or Very pistols (flares). These codes have been used to provide the following information.

The table below shows information on the number of inpatient and day case episodes in general acute hospitals in Scotland in the last four financial years due to other and unspecified firearms discharges.

Number of Hospital Episodes due to Other and Unspecified Firearm Discharges; by NHS Board of Treatment and Financial Year

NHS Board of Treatment	Financial Year
	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	10	*	6	*
NHS Borders	*	-	-	*
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	*	-	-	*
NHS Fife	*	11	*	5
NHS Forth Valley	-	5	*	-
NHS Grampian	15	*	*	*
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	39	38	21	20
NHS Highland	6	*	*	8
NHS Lanarkshire	9	8	11	10
NHS Lothian	15	12	10	9
NHS Tayside	5	9	10	*
Island Boards	*	*	-	*
NHS Scotland	109	92	68	68

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.

Note: *Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure and to help maintain patient confidentiality

The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with local authorities wishing to decriminalise parking enforcement (DPE) since Renfrewshire Council enforced DPE in April 2010.

Seven local authorities have decriminalised parking offences. Decriminalised parking enforcement (DPE) was introduced in the City of Edinburgh, Glasgow City Council, Perth and Kinross Council, Aberdeen City Council, Dundee City Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Renfrewshire Council.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-39794 on 10 March 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.