Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place to issue temporary firearm, shotgun or coterminous certificates when renewals are not completed within the recognised timeframe.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.
Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.
Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.
We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place to ensure that applications for the grant or renewal of a firearm or shotgun certificate which are submitted correctly and in time are renewed within the recognised timeframe in order to avoid the certificate holder committing an offence.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Under the Firearms Act 1968, firearm and shotgun certificate administration is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. The time taken to process a firearm or shotgun application can vary between forces as the respective chief officer must take into account the need to manage risk and ensure public protection in their respective force area.
Whilst Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1968, allows the police to issue a temporary permit for the continued possession of firearms and ammunition, the use of this power was not used consistently by police forces. The Government has therefore taken steps to assist forces with the administration of the firearms licensing system through changes made under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 131 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 automatically extends the validity of firearm and shotgun certificates past their expiry date for a limited period of up to eight weeks where a timely application for renewal has been made prior to the expiry of the certificate. This will give police the extra time needed to complete outstanding checks without this impacting on a licence holder’s activities through the expiry of the certificate prior to renewal. This provision will be implemented later this year.
Any requests for compensation by licence holders whilst their renewal applications are being considered is a matter for them to raise with the police.
We do not collect data centrally on the performance of individual forces in respect of firearms licensing.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to join the Schengen area; and what assessment they have made of the effect that doing so would have on the amount of revenue generated from tourists to the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK is not part of Schengen arrangements on visas and border controls, and we have no plans to join them.
The UK decided to retain frontier controls at ports and airports because we believe that, for the UK, they are the most effective means of controlling immigration and combating organised and cross-border crime.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the status of Firearms Dealers Computerised Registers as originally required by the Home Office and agreed with the Gun Trade Association in July 2013; whether the requirement been rescinded; and if so, for what reason.
Answered by Lord Bates
In order to comply with European Union Directive 2008/51/EC, the Government must have established a computerised filing system to record and maintain details about the supply and ownership of legal firearms by the end of 2014.
We already have robust processes in place as firearms dealers are required to maintain their own register of firearms under the Firearms Act 1968, details of which are passed to the National Firearms Licensing Management System in England and Wales and Shogun in Scotland. Records and registers will now need to be kept for a minimum of twenty years and this will require an amendment to secondary legislation.
Although our original approach was for dealers to computerise their records, we recently announced that we would be continuing to use the existing centralised systems for the majority of the recorded transactions, as this reduces the impact on both police and firearms dealers. However, we will continue to recommend that dealers keep computerised records as a matter of best practice.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the requirement under European Union Directive 2008/51/EC that all member states have a computerised system to record all firearms by 31 December 2014, they have implemented such a system; and if not, for what reason.
Answered by Lord Bates
In order to comply with European Union Directive 2008/51/EC, the Government must have established a computerised filing system to record and maintain details about the supply and ownership of legal firearms by the end of 2014.
We already have robust processes in place as firearms dealers are required to maintain their own register of firearms under the Firearms Act 1968, details of which are passed to the National Firearms Licensing Management System in England and Wales and Shogun in Scotland. Records and registers will now need to be kept for a minimum of twenty years and this will require an amendment to secondary legislation.
Although our original approach was for dealers to computerise their records, we recently announced that we would be continuing to use the existing centralised systems for the majority of the recorded transactions, as this reduces the impact on both police and firearms dealers. However, we will continue to recommend that dealers keep computerised records as a matter of best practice.