Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to (a) merge and (b) align the (i) Section 1 (firearms) and (ii) Section 2 (shotgun) licensing systems in the Firearms Act 1968.

We will be undertaking a public consultation later this year on the greater alignment of the controls on shotguns with other firearms.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February this year, included a commitment to having a consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns, in the interests of public safety.

We will carefully consider the views put forward to the consultation after it is completed, before deciding what further action to take.