2022/24994 - Firearms Licensing Departments
REQUEST
Questions for Force Firearms Licensing Departments (FLDs) Freedom of Information Request
Unless stated otherwise, all questions relate to the current position as of 1st March 2022
- How many staff work in the force's FLD (Full time equivalent)?
- How many of these are police officers?
- Are any other staff involved in work for the department (e.g. PCSOs doing enquiries or PNC staff doing background checks)? If so, how many and what are their roles?
- What training is provided to FEOs and by whom?
- Who holds the delegated authority of the chief officer under section 55 Firearms Act 1968 to grant/renew/refuse/revoke? How many staff have this delegated authority?
- What is the budget for the department?
- Is the budget ring-fenced?
- Is FLD as standalone department, or part of another business area?
- How many certificates have been extended under section 28B in last 12 months?
- How many Section 7 permits have been issued in the last 12 months due to expired certificates?
- Is the force currently accepting grant applications?
- What is the turnaround time for a grant? (Currently and a year ago)
- When is an application first recorded on NFLMS? As soon as received. Once all enquiries have been completed? At some other stage in the process (please specify)?
- Are certificates ever issued on NFLMS prior to conducting statutory enquiries?
RESPONSE
- How many staff work in the force's FLD (Full time equivalent)?
14.
- How many of these are police officers?
2.
- Are any other staff involved in work for the department (e.g., PCSOs doing enquiries or PNC staff doing background checks)? If so, how many and what are their roles?
The department is staffed with Police Officers and Police Staff only. There are no PCSOs or any other staff working in the department.
- What training is provided to FEOs and by whom?
Each firearms enquiry officers has a firearms enquiry officer course provided by an external supplier. In addition to this, staff members also receive NICHE Information Managers Course, PNC Full enquiry course, and PND Access.
- Who holds the delegated authority of the chief officer under section 55 Firearms Act 1968 to grant/renew/refuse/revoke? How many staff have this delegated authority? ACC.
- What is the budget for the department?
The budget for Firearms Licensing Department is incorporated within the Information Services business area, the budget for this business area in total is £857,284.00.
- Is the budget ring-fenced?
The budget for the Information Services business area and Firearms Licensing Department is not ring-fenced.
- Is FLD as standalone department, or part of another business area?
It is a part of Information Services.
- How many certificates have been extended under section 28B in last 12 months?
NLFMS only represents live data, so each overdue by month would need to be examined to determine the application of an extension. We have received approximately 50-100 a month over the last year. 50 x 10 mins = 8 hrs x 12mths = 100 hours. Therefore, a Section 12 Excess Cost exemption has been applied.
Section 12 – Excess Cost
The exemption applicable to the information you have requested for this question can be found at Section 12(1) of the Act and this refusal notice is issued under Section 17.
Section 12(1) “does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
In the case of a police force, the appropriate limit is set at £450, which is calculated at £25 per hour (i.e., 18 hours). Gwent Police would have to conduct a manual search to find and extract the information for this question. This would take more than 18 hours of staff time therefore we are unable to answer this question and the exemption is engaged.
- How many Section 7 permits have been issued in the last 12 months due to expired certificates?
As above.
- Is the force currently accepting grant applications?
Yes.
- What is the turnaround time for a grant? (Currently and a year ago) approx.
12 months.
- When is an application first recorded on NFLMS? As soon as received. Once all enquiries have been completed? At some other stage in the process (please specify)? Once all information is received.
- Are certificates ever issued on NFLMS prior to conducting statutory enquiries?
No.