§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Defence if there were two RAF aeroplanes involved in the near-miss recorded by the pilot of Dan Flight DA064 between Leeds-Bradford and Glasgow on Monday 3 March; and whether the aeroplanes were carrying missiles of either conventional or nuclear type.
1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1. Grant of firearms certificates (a) Applications received 7,204 8,167 6,145 5,116 5,484 4,318 4,389 (b) Certificates refused — * 456 356 281 293 229 267 (c) Appeals received 191 237 200 159 175 159 155† (d) Appeals allowed 3 30 18 19 17 10 16 (e) Cases reconsidered by RUC after receipt of appeal and certificate granted before appeal heard 2 48 72 34 17 38 22 2. Renewal of firearm certificate (a) Applications received 13,234 9,654 32,000 15,361 13,065 28,710 19,121 (b) Renewals refused — * 170 217 49 58 48 92 (c) Appeals received 29 23 95 19 15 17 24 (d) Appeals allowed 1 3 2 3 — 1 6 (e) Cases reconsidered by RUC after receipt of appeal and certificate renewed before appeal heard 1 9 65 1 — 3 1 Costs of the appeal procedure could only be calculated at disproportionate expense. * Not available. † Four appeals received in 1979 not yet decided.
§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the cost of the provision of firearms certificates books in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years; and how often it is necessary to have such documents printed each year.
§ Mr. AlisonFirearms certificates at present in use in Northern Ireland were printed in 1973 on centralisation of firearms licensing. The cost of that exercise is not readily available and could not be established without disproportionate cost. Sufficient stocks remain to last until
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§ Mr. PattieInvestigations into the incident are continuing and I cannot at this stage add anything to the answers I gave to the hon. Member on 7 March, when I promised to write to him when the full facts are available.