§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (1) pursuant to the letter of 5 May from the Scottish Office, Home Department, Police Division, to Mr. T. McCarthy, Secretary Scottish SPA, regarding consultation on matters affecting the administration of Firearms Acts for what reasons Mr. McCarthy has not been(a) supplied with documents and (b) consulted by the Home Office Operational Police Policy Unit in London in connection with their review and proposed changes to the firearms rules or forms; [42411]
(2) what consultations the Home Office Operational Police Policy Unit held with (a) Scottish Firearms Clubs or Associations and (b) the Deer Commission for Scotland on their proposed changes to the Firearms Rules and Firearms Forms. [42413]
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§ Mr. MichaelThe Home Office commenced consultation on the revision of the firearms forms on 5 December 1997. In accordance with established practice, the Home Office consulted bodies representing shooting sports in Great Britain as a whole. Consultation between branches and affiliates of those bodies in England, Wales and Scotland is principally a matter for the bodies themselves.
Consultation on the forms formally concluded on Thursday 5 May 1998. The Scottish Home Department informed the Home Office on that day that the Scottish Pistol Association wished to be included in future consultation exercises. This has been noted for future reference, but until then we had not received any suggestion that any specific Scottish group wished to be consulted independently of the Great Britain organisations.