Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have died from police weapon discharges in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

The Home Office publication Police use of firearms statistics, England and Wales: April 2016 to March 2017 presents statistics on the number of i) armed officers, ii) police firearms operations and iii) incidents in which police firearms were discharged in the 43 Home Office police forces for the financial years ending March 2009 to March 2017. The data can be found in tables 1, 3 and 4 here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632386/police-use-of-firearms-2017-tables.ods

Below is the relevant extract from the tables to answer part of your request:

How many police firearms officers are employed in England and Wales at present; and how many were employed in each of the last five years (HL7888).

Table 3: Number of armed officers on 31 March 2013 to 31 March 2017

How many times police firearms officers have been deployed in England and Wales in each of the last five years (HL7889).

Table 1: Number of police firearms operations, years ending March 2013 to March 2017

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on:

• The number of police weapons that have been discharged (HL7890), although the department does hold data on the number of incidents in which police firearms were discharged (see table 4 of the above referenced statistical release).
• The number of people that were injured in police weapon discharges (HL7891).
• The number of people that have died from police weapon discharges (HL7892).

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) publication ‘Deaths during or following police contact Statistics for England and Wales 2016/17’ presents statistics on the number of fatal police shootings for the financial years ending March 2007 to March 2017. The data can be found in table A1 here:

https://policeconduct.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/statistics/Tables_deaths_report1617.ods