Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department collects on the effectiveness and efficiency of firearms licensing by individual police constabularies.
Firearms licensing is an operational for the police and the Government does not monitor individual licensing decisions. The Government has provided guidance to the police on the exercise of their firearms licensing functions, and we have consulted on the introduction of statutory guidance to the police on this issue, which will help to ensure greater consistency in practice across all police forces.
The Government publishes statistics on firearms and shotgun certificates issued by police forces in England and Wales. The most recent statistics, for the period April 2018 to March 2019 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812296/statistics-firearm-shotgun-certificates-england-wales-2018-2019-hosb0919.pdf.