Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on the NHS of police forces requiring medical verification for firearms licensing applications from GPs during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government recognises that firearms licensing arrangements, including the medical aspects, will be affected by the measures that have been put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to avoid placing any additional or unnecessary burdens on the NHS, and police forces may need to adopt a flexible approach to meet local need and risk in the current exceptional circumstances, with some impact on firearms licensing arrangements. The Government will continue to have discussions with the police to keep firearms licensing under review over the coming weeks and months.