§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, for each year since the issuing of such certificates was centralised in the Royal Ulster Constabulary headquarters, how many firearms certificates have been renewals and new applicants and, of these, how many have been refused, how many refusals have been appealed and how many appeals have been allowed; and what was the annual cost of such appeals.
§ Mr. AlisonThe information on applications for grant and renewal and on appeals is as follows:
1981 at which time a re-print will be ordered.
§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the postage costs in relation to the issue of firearms certificates in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. AlisonThis information is not available. Postage costs in respect of the issue of firearm certificates are met from the total provision in estimates for postage for the force.
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§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the costs taken into account in the processing of firearms certificates in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. AlisonA proportion of the costs of the following items are taken into account in determining the fees for the processing of firearms certificates:
- 1. RUC headquarters:
- (a) RUS staff;
- (b) Civilian staff.
- 2. Police authority staff.
- 3. Supervision.
- 4. RUC overtime and allowances.
- 5. Superannuation.
- 6. Accommodation and allied services.
- 7. RUC divisional and station level costs.
§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether records of the names and addresses of persons who hold firearms certificates in Northern Ireland are held in each Royal Ulster Constabulary division and by individual police stations as well as at Royal Ulster Constabulary headquarters; and whether the records of such certificates are stored in a computer.
§ Mr. AlisonA comprehensive record is held at Royal Ulster Constabulary headquarters and local records at local stations. They are not stored on a computer.
Date Superintendent Chief Inspector Inspector Sergeant Constable 1.1.74 Nil 1 Nil 1 1 1.1.75 Nil 1 Nil 1 1 1.1.76 1 1 1 1 1 1.1.77 1 1 1 1 1 1.1.78 1 1 1 1 1 1.1.79 1 1 1 1 1 1.1.80 1 1 1 1 1 Details of salaries and wages paid to this staff are not readily available for earlier years but the actual expenditure on salaries, overtime and allowances for the financial year 1978–79 and the estimated cost for 1979–80 are:
1978–79 (actual) 1979–80 (estimated] £ £ Salaries 29,600 33,800 Overtime and allowances 16,000 16,000 45,600 49,800
§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list in the Official Report the sum expended on the firearms section of the Royal
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§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what sums have been spent on travel by the Royal Ulster Constabulary headquarters firearms section and by Royal Ulster Constabulary personnel, other than headquarters section staff in the processing of firearm certificates in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. AlisonThe information in respect of headquarters staff could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost. Members of the force outside headquarters perform duties in connection with the firearms licensing system as part of normal duty, and it would not be possible to isolate the travel costs involved in any particular part of normal duty.
§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list in the Official Report the numbers and ranks of the Royal Ulster Constabulary headquarters staff engaged in the processing of firearms certificates for each year since the process was centralised; and what were the total sums paid as salaries and wages in that section of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for each year.
§ Mr. AlisonThe information on staffing is only available from 1974 as follows:
Ulster Constabulary in relation to accommodation.
§ Mr. AlisonIt is not possible to isolate the cost of accommodating a particular section of the force. This must be apportioned as a percentage of the total of RUC accommodation costs. For the purposes of costing accommodation in determining firearm certificate fees the following figures have been used:
1978–79 £16,600 1979–80 £16,400 1980–81 £17,100 1981–82 £21,700 1982–83 £17,300
§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the cost 471W of police time, other than that of the headquarters staff of the firearms section of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which was spent in investigations into applications for firearms; and whether any periods of time can be identified in the individual Royal Ulster Constabulary stations in Northern Ireland as being spent on investigating applications for firearm certificates.
§ Mr. AlisonThe RUC costs, other than headquarters costs, involved in processing the firearms licensing scheme for the years 1978–79 to 1982–83 are estimated as follows:
1978–79 £145,000 1979–80 £146,000 1980–81 £167,000 1981–82 £250,000 1982–83 £167,000 It is not possible to relate these costs to individual stations or to isolate the time spent at individual stations in dealing with firearms matters.