Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the effect of licensing air weapons in Scotland on the number of offences involving air weapons in that country from 2015-16 and 2017-18.

The Government has looked at the arrangements that apply to the controls on air weapons in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the context of the review of air weapons regulation in England and Wales. The outcomes of that review are reflected in the current public consultation on firearms safety, which was published on 24 November 2020. The consultation sets out proposals for new measures in relation to air weapons.

The firearms safety consultation will close on 16 February, after which the Government will publish its response, including in relation to air weapons controls.