Firearms: Licensing
Home Department
Jim Shannon (Strangford, DUP)
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department
(1) what discussions she has had with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and Countryside Alliance Ireland on the cost of shotgun certificate fees;
(2) what the cost to the public purse of processing a firearms certificate is in England and Wales; and what the cost of obtaining such a certificate is.
Nick Herbert (Minister of State, Justice; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)
Fees for firearms certificates are laid down in the Firearms Act 1968 and are set at £50 for the issue of a new certificate and £40 for a renewal. The cost to the public purse of processing those certificates is estimated by the ACPO Firearms and Explosives Licensing Working Group at being £189 for a new certificate and £106 for a renewal. Fee levels are currently under review and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, through its membership of the British Shooting Sports Council, has been involved in the consultation process. The Countryside Alliance Ireland has not been involved as Northern Ireland has its own firearms certification system.