§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made, since the Answer by the Lord Williams of Mostyn on 20 January (H.L. Deb., col. 1374), with the establishment of a central register of persons who have applied for a firearm or shotgun certificate or to whom a firearm or shotgun certificate has been granted or whose certificate has been renewed, as required under Section 39 of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which came into force on 1 October 1997. [HL2836]
118WA
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe work to establish the central database is being taken forward by a working group which has been set up under the auspices of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Administration of Firearms and Explosives Licensing Sub-Committee. The Working Group is in the process of finalising the detailed user requirement for the database. Once finalised the user requirement, which will allow better identification of the likely costs, will be submitted to the ACPO Police National Computer Steering Committee and the Police Information Technology Organisation to assess the operational priority of the database. This is expected to take place before the end of the year.
§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will give the number of persons currently holding a firearm or shotgun certificate on 31 December 1997 in respect of each police licensing authority in the United Kingdom, and the total number of such certificates. [HL2837]
§ Lord Williams of MostynRecords are kept of the number of firearm and shotgun certificates on issue. Other than in Northern Ireland, where there is no distinction between a firearm certificate and a shotgun certificate, individuals may hold both firearm and shotgun certificates. The statistics for 1997 for England and Wales are not yet available, so the figures given relate to the position as at 30 December 1996. Within these constraints, the figures requested are given in the tables.
Firearm/shotgun certificates on issue by the Royal Ulster Constabulary as at 31 December 1997: 83,753
Firearm and shotgun certificates on issue in Scotland as at 31 December 1997 (by force area) Police force Firearm Shotgun Central Scotland 1,087 2,984 Dumfries and Galloway 2,227 4,985 Fife 1,456 3,945 Grampian 5,856 11,553 Lothian and Borders 3,976 9,183 Northern 8,060 10,489 Strathclyde 4,748 12,639 Tayside 3,684 7,437 Totals 31,094 63,215 119WA
Firearm and shotgun certificates on issue in England and Wales as at 31 December 1996 (by force area) Police Force Firearms Shotguns Avon and Somerset 5,293 22,354 Bedfordshire 1,441 6,992 Cambridgeshire 2,774 15,133 Cheshire 2,745 13,384 Cleveland 879 2,685 Cumbria 3,325 10,999 Derbyshire 2,543 12,723 Devon and Cornwall 8,529 37,240 Dorset 2,866 12,551 Durham 2,243 6,873 Essex 4,241 20,935 Gloucestershire 2,498 12,064 Greater Manchester 2,675 9,518 120WA
Firearm and shotgun certificates on issue in England and Wales as at 31 December 1996 (by force area) Police Force Firearms Shotguns Hampshire 5,344 22,148 Hertfordshire 1,939 10,025 Humberside 2,886 10,288 Kent 4,387 22,503 Lancashire 2,977 12,918 Leicestershire 1,905 11,521 Lincolnshire 3,586 16,315 London, City of 40 33 Merseyside 1,683 4,688 Metropolitan Police 9,123 33,867 Norfolk 3,709 21,967 Northamptonshire 2,337 9,725 Northumbria 3,679 9,661 North Yorkshire 5,679 19,213 Nottinghamshire 1,987 12,946 South Yorkshire 1,777 8,419
Firearm and shotgun certificates on issue in England and Wales as at 31 December 1996 (by force area) Police Force Firearms Shotguns Staffordshire 2,671 15,161 Suffolk 3,744 18,487 Surrey 2,594 11,600 Sussex 5,828 22,900 Thames Valley 6,854 30,975 Warwickshire 1,844 10,161 West Mercia 5,514 30,706 West Midlands 5,514 11,033 West Yorkshire 3,209 11,855 Wiltshire 2,800 12,189 Dyfed-Powys 3,756 20,756 Gwent 1,052 7,575 North Wales 2,421 14,088 South Wales 2,259 10,866 Totals 141,859 637,950