Further to the oral evidence to the Committee on 20 November 2002, the Chief Constable has been asked to provide some additional information to the Committee.

(i)  Other than the three stated criteria, are there other grounds on which the Chief Constable would refuse to grant a firearm certificate?

  Other than the points raised in oral evidence, generally speaking the Chief Constable will refuse a firearm certificate outside the legal requirement of Article 5(2)(3) and (4) where the applicants have: failed to properly complete the application form, forwarded photocopied or unverified land letters, forwarded photographs where they are wearing hats or dark glasses, failed to provide the full fee etc. These refusals are of an administrative nature and for the most part they are upheld on appeal.

  The Committee raised a further issue around the use of the word "may" in Article 5 of the proposed Order, in terms of its human rights implication. The Northern Ireland legislation is different in two respects. That noted, in 5(1) the Chief Constable may grant a firearms certificate and also in 5(2) negative is used—the Chief Constable shall not grant a licence ...unless—the English legislation states shall grant if....

  The wording of the Northern Ireland Order leaves a residual discretion with the Chief Constable to refuse a licence, even where the conditions set out in the legislation are satisfied. The English legislation does not leave any discretion—provided the conditions are satisfied, the Chief Constable shall grant a licence.

  I am advised that the drafting of the Northern Ireland Order does not, of itself, amount to a breach of human rights law, nor does the operation of the legislation necessarily result in such a breach.

  There is, however, potential for an argument, based on the Human Rights Act, that the legislation is not clear or precise enough to satisfy the requirement of legality, which is a central theme of the Act. In other words, it is not clear when a licence may be refused even though the conditions in the Order are made out.

  In order to succeed in such an argument, the applicant would have to first show that the refusal of the licence was an interference with a Convention right and secondly that the Chief Constable's refusal was not for one of the reasons provided in the Order. These will clearly not be satisfied in every case.

  The Northern Ireland Office intends to publish guidelines equivalent to the Home Office Firearms Law Guidance to the Police. It is anticipated that this will set out in general terms the circumstances in which residual discretion could be exercised and this could well satisfy the human rights argument.

(ii)  Are there any statistics for legally held firearms being used in illegal acts?

  No statistics are currently held for this, however, the chart provided as an Annex lists a breakdown of the reasons for revocation of firearm certificates, from 1 January 2002 to 22 November 2002. Unfortunately, it would be at disproportionate cost to provide the information requested.

  I trust this is of assistance to the Committee. If there are any other matters on which the PSNI can assist, please do not hesitate to contact me at this headquarters.

3 December 2002