Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
1) How many firearm licence holders in force area currently?
2) How many shotgun certificate holders in force area currently,,?
3) How many applications for a firearm or shotgun have been rejected?
4) What is your force policy if a license holder dies and spouse and such having no authority to be in possession? Last thing they are thinking. Does your licence team have guidelines if so publish please
After we sought clarity you gave time frame for point 3 as ‘3 years’ we which are taking as 2017 - 2019, and at point 4 you were asking what the policy is on the death of a licence holder for the weapons held.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Firearms Licensing Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.
I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
- There are 3711 Firearm certificates in force as at 10/02/2020
2.There are 8934 Shotgun certificates in force as at 10/02/2020.
Please note that some certificate holders may have been issued both a firearm and shotgun certificate.
3.
In 2017 - 29 applications for the grant of a firearm and/or shotgun certificate were refused and 36 applications for the renewal of a firearm and/or shotgun certificate were refused.
In 2018 - 24 applications for the grant of a firearm and/or shotgun certificate were refused and 7 applications for the renewal of a firearm and/or shotgun certificate were refused.
In 2019 - 3 applications for the grant of a firearm and/or shotgun certificate were refused and 3 applications for the renewal of a firearm and/or shotgun certificate were refused.
4. As the information you have requested is accessible by other means I have not provided you with a copy of the information and will rely on Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore consider this a refusal for your request.
I have provided an explanation to this exemption below.
Section 21 (1) - Information accessible by other means
Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant is exempt information.
Northumbria Police refer to the guidance in the Home Office Guide on Firearms Licensing Law (latest version published April 2016).
The response to your query can be found therein.
As this is document is freely available Section 21 is therefore relevant.
However in order to assist you I have provided the link to the document below.
