Asked by: Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many recorded incidents of (a) violence, (b) abuse, (c) theft and (d) other crimes against retailers took place in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021 and (iv) 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that levels of crime on a comparable basis are down by 56% compared with the year ending March 2010.
The Home Office collects and publishes data on crime affecting retail premises as part of the Commercial Victimisation survey, the publication for 2022 was published in May 2023 and is available at:
The data collected includes an estimation of the proportion of commercial premises which were a victim of crime. The data does not provide an estimate of the number of specific incidents of violence, abuse, theft, or other crimes.
The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any public-facing worker is never acceptable. We take this issue very seriously and recognise the implications these incidents can have on businesses as well as the victims.
On 23 October, the National Police Chiefs Council launched their Retail Crime Action Plan; which includes a police commitment to prioritise attending the scene of retail crime instances where violence has been used; where an offender has been detained; or where evidence needs to be promptly secured and can only be done in person by police personnel.
The 23 October also saw the launch of Pegasus, a unique private-public partnership that will radically improve the way retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.
Asked by: Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for firearms licence certificates have been refused in the last five years; and what the primary reasons for those refusals were.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of firearm and shotgun licence certificate renewals and refusals in England and Wales in the ‘Statistics on firearm and shotgun certificates, England and Wales’ National Statistics publication. The latest data cover the year ending 31 March 2023 and are available here: Statistics on firearm and shotgun certificates, England and Wales: April 2022 to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data on the number of applications for the renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates that were granted, and the number of applications refused in the last five years are published in tables 1 and 3 of the accompanying data tables.
Reasons for refusing applications for a firearm certificate are not collected centrally. Under the Firearms Act 1968, police forces will refuse such applications where they are not satisfied that the applicant is fit to be entrusted with a firearm, has a good reason to possess a firearm, or that they can be permitted to possess a firearm without danger to the public safety or to the peace.
Asked by: Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Senior Coroner Ian Arrow’s Prevention of Future Deaths reports following the Plymouth shooting inquests, what steps her Department is taking to (a) develop and (b) implement a national training regime for police firearms licensing staff.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I announced in my statement to the House on 29 June Firearms Licensing - Hansard - UK Parliament that we are providing funding of £500,000 to support the development and roll-out of a new national training package for firearms licensing staff, developed by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs Council. In due course the training will become mandatory for police firearms licensing teams.
The training package will be reinforced and supported by a refresh of the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice, which was the subject of a consultation from January to March this year. The finalised APP will sit alongside the Statutory Guidance to provide support and guidance to police firearms licensing teams.
Asked by: Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many firearms licence certificates have been renewed in the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of firearm and shotgun licence certificate renewals and refusals in England and Wales in the ‘Statistics on firearm and shotgun certificates, England and Wales’ National Statistics publication. The latest data cover the year ending 31 March 2023 and are available here: Statistics on firearm and shotgun certificates, England and Wales: April 2022 to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data on the number of applications for the renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates that were granted, and the number of applications refused in the last five years are published in tables 1 and 3 of the accompanying data tables.
Reasons for refusing applications for a firearm certificate are not collected centrally. Under the Firearms Act 1968, police forces will refuse such applications where they are not satisfied that the applicant is fit to be entrusted with a firearm, has a good reason to possess a firearm, or that they can be permitted to possess a firearm without danger to the public safety or to the peace.
Asked by: Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reassure medical practitioners who have conducted a medical check for the grant of a firearms licence certificate that there is no legal liability in the event of future misuse of that firearm.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Statutory Guidance to Chief Officers of Police for firearms licensing, which was introduced in November 2021 and refreshed in February 2023, requires applicants to provide relevant medical information from their doctor with their firearms application.
This is an important part of the licensing process which ensures that the police can consider the applicant’s medical suitability to be in possession of a firearm, helping to keep the public safe from the misuse of firearms. Doctors are also asked to place a firearms flag on the patient record as part of the continuous assessment by police of certificate holders during the five-year validity of the certificate.
The Statutory Guidance makes it clear that the responsibility for assessing whether a person is suitable to be granted a firearm certificate lies with the police, and not with the applicant’s GP or doctor. The Statutory Guidance contains a link to a Memorandum of Understanding agreed in July 2019 between the British Medical Association, the National Police Chiefs Council and the Home Office.
The Memorandum of Understanding sets out that the legal responsibility for the assessment of the suitability of a firearms applicant or certificate holder lies with the police and not with the GP. It states that while GPs will endeavour to share relevant medical information with the police, there is no legal liability if they fail to do so.
Asked by: Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many deaths have been caused by (a) licenced firearms, (b) unlicensed firearms and (c) bladed weapons in the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects data on homicides by method of killing in England and Wales. The latest data available, from April 2021 to March 2022, shows that there were 282 homicides involving a sharp instrument.
For the same period there were 9 homicides involving a licensed firearm and 19 involving an unlicensed firearm. The published data are available here Appendix tables: homicide in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) at worksheet 8, for data on method of killing including sharp instruments, and table 12 for firearms by licenced / unlicensed.