Recommendation 20

The matter of firearms licence fees is reserved, as they are set by the Home Office. However, the Scottish Government contribute to the working group on licence fees.74 Keith Brown MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice for the Scottish Government who represents the 64 Q150 65 Q150 66 Fieldsports Channel, Police delay firearms licensing as livestock and wildlife suffer, accessed 15 September 2022; Shooting UK, Some police forces begin accepting new certificates again, accessed 15 September; The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, The firearms licensing crisis continues, accessed 13 September 2022 67 Q2; It should be noted that Scotland has seen fewer delays than England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In fact, the Scottish system has been called “amongst the best in the UK” (Q155) and “an exemplar” (Q66) - we were told that, in Scotland, between 99.45% (Police Scotland FLR0011) and 99.53% (Q66) of certificates were being renewed on time. 68 Professor Peter Squires (FLR0020); Q74; Q150 69 Q80 70 Q74 71 Q79 72 Q78 73 Q79 74 Q178 12 Firearms licensing regulations in Scotland Dunblane area of Scotland75, stated that a full-cost system for licence fees “may help to provide further income for the police force, but I would want to make sure that we were not unduly penalising those who rely on these licences for their work”.76 The Cabinet Secretary went on to tell us that he would support “in principle”77 a two-tier system of licence fees.