Firearms

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many firearm certificate applications were made in each police service of Northern Ireland district command unit area in each of the last three years; how many of these applications were (a) granted and (b) declined; how many applicants appealed against a decision to decline an application; and how many of those appeals were (i) upheld and (ii) dismissed. (166209)

The Chief Constable has provided the information in Table 1 in relation to firearm certificate applications.

*Table 1*
	2005¹	2006²	2007 (to date)
	Granted	Refused	Granted	Refused	Granted	Refused
Applications	11,984	270	27,690	247	16,476	159
¹ 2005 statistics are available only from 1 February 2005 when a new computer system was introduced to take account of the provisions of the Firearms (Order) 2004. ² The increased number of applications dealt with in 2006 reflects the carry forward of a significant backlog of cases received in 2005. Note: Applications received in 2005, 2006 and 2007 cannot be attributed by the computer system to individual District Command Units. Such analysis could be done only at disproportionate cost to public funds.

The figures for firearms appeals are given in Table 2.

*Table 2*
	Late appeals not accepted	Refused	Allowed	Withdrawn	Part refused/allowed
2005	7	45	4	5	1
2006	3	27	5	0	1
2007	3	26	4	0	0

As the result of an administrative error, an incorrect figure of 147 was recorded in an earlier PQ (123488) for applications refused in 2006. The figure should have read 247.

Volume 468: debated on Monday 26 November 2007