Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of merging (i) shotgun and (ii) rifle licensing systems will have on constituents in South Suffolk.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We intend to publish this consultation shortly.

We will carefully consider all of the views put forward during the consultation, including the potential impact on those who live and work in rural communities, before taking any decisions on whether changes are necessary in the interests of public safety. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that we bring forward after the consultation, in the normal way.