§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is(a) the number of current shotgun licences, (b) the number of shotgun licences issued since the enactment of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988, and (c) the number of (i) civilian and (ii) police staff dealing with the processing of shotgun licence applications and (d) the change in the number of such staff since the enactment of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggStatistics on shotgun certificates are collected on an annual basis. A total of 861,300 shotgun certificates were on issue in England and Wales at 31 December 1987, the last year for which figures are available. Information is not collected centrally on the number of police and civilian staff dealing with shotgun certificate applications and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.