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.

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.