§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many claims under the firearms compensation scheme currently remain outstanding under each of options A, B and C; and by what dates he expects all claims under each option to be settled. [44470]
§ Mr. MichaelPayments under Options A and B of the large calibre handgun compensation scheme and the parallel ex gratia scheme for small calibre pistols were completed by the end of May, as planned. The only exceptions are around 300 cases involving firearms dealers and individual owners where payment cannot be finalised because of outstanding queries over the eligibility of items claimed for, difficulties in obtaining the required details to enable payment to be made, or where the claimant has declined to complete the required Declaration on the claim form. Payment on these remaining claims will completed as soon as the necessary information and signatures are provided.
The Firearms Compensation Section (FCS) is now devoting the bulk of its resources to processing the Option C claims, which are fewer in number but more complicated. There are around 24,500 Option C claims to be processed, the great majority of which are mixed claims on which payments have been made already under Option A or B. The rate of payment on these claims will increase now that we have more staff allocated to this task. In the interests of fairness, Option C claims are being dealt with in the order in which the guns were surrendered to the police, so that the claimant will not be penalised by any subsequent delay in forwarding the claim to the Home Office. The target is to complete most of these payments by the end of the year, if not all, and we will do everything that can be done to clear these claims in a shorter time if at all possible.
439WAround 11,000 claims were submitted during February under the statutory surrender scheme for small calibre pistols. These are being registered on the FCS computer system by data-processing staff, and substantive work will begin on them when the overall work position permits. Until the claims have been examined in detail, it is not possible to give a firm date for completion.
The FCS Information Line on 0171 271 8977 gives regularly updated details of the current processing times for all classes of claim, to enable claimants to monitor the progress of their claims.