Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for the issuing of firearm licences.

The safety of the public is our first priority and we keep firearms controls under review. We introduced new Statutory Guidance for firearms licensing for Chief Officers of Police on 1 November 2021. This is helping to improve the quality of police licensing procedures and achieve greater consistency across police forces, because police forces now have a legal duty to have regard to the Statutory Guidance when carrying out their licensing functions. The Statutory Guidance also made it a requirement for relevant medical information to be provided to police in all cases before the application for a firearm certificate is considered. The Statutory Guidance was refreshed on 14 February following a review after its first year in operation.

Following the conclusion on Monday 20 February of the inquest into the tragic shootings which occurred in Keyham in August 2021, and the issuing of a report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the report following a recent inquiry by the Scottish Affairs Committee into firearms licensing, we are giving urgent but careful consideration to recommendations made to the Home Office about firearms licensing.