Recommendation 17

Moving to a full-cost system for licence fees would free up some more resources for the police forces to spend elsewhere - including being spent on improvements to the licensing process. Assistant Chief Constable Alan Spiers told us that “there is no doubt going forward that the pressure on Police Scotland around resourcing is significant”64 and that individuals covering the full cost of applications and renewals “would go some way to supporting the service that we provide in relation to firearms licences”.65 For example, the country sports community have stated that there have been substantial delays in processing licence applications and renewals.66 Dr Michael North (a founding member of the Gun Control Network whose daughter was killed during the Dunblane Primary School tragedy) told us that “this is largely due to a lack of resources [ … ] because the licence fee does not cover the full cost of what the police have to carry out in order to provide an applicant with a licence”.67 We heard from numerous organisations that appropriate funding is needed, as firearms licences are important to public safety.68