Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the approval rate percentage of shotgun licence renewals within the target timeframe for Cambridgeshire Constabulary compared to the national average.

The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces, including the timeframe taken for processing shotgun licence renewals, is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners. Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary work together on firearms licensing as part of a tripartite arrangement between the forces and report to each of the relevant Chief Officers.

The Home Office does not routinely collect data on the percentage of shotgun licence renewal applications that are approved within the target time of four months for each police force.

However, the National Policing Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for Firearms Licensing now publishes quarterly performance data for firearms licensing in all police forces in England and Wales. The data is published on the NPCC website at firearms-licensing-2526-q2-headlines.pdf and includes a combined percentage figure for the number of applications for the grant and renewal of licensing applications completed within four months of their receipt, including for Cambridgeshire Constabulary.