Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's guidance entitled Firearms licensing: statutory guidance for chief officers of police, updated on 5 August 2025, what assessment she has made with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the potential impact of the requirement to undertake a medical assessment every six months on the (a) financial cost and (b) bureaucratic burden to people when renewing a firearms license.

The Statutory Guidance does not require medical assessments for firearms certificate holders every six months. When applying for a certificate, or making a renewal every five years, an applicant is required to supply a medical report from their GP or another doctor. Subsequently, certificate holders must advise the police if they are diagnosed with, or treated for, a relevant medical condition.

In addition, and as part of the medical arrangements for firearms licensing, GPs are asked to place a marker on the medical records of those who hold a firearms certificate. This marker prompts the GP to alert the police if the certificate holder is diagnosed with a relevant medical condition at any time during the validity the certificate.