The national firearms register will be installed in all England and Wales police forces by March next year, 10 years after it became a legal requirement.
The Police IT Organisation (Pito), which is responsible for the project, says changes have been made to the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) in recent months, and it is now training users at the Lancashire and Metropolitan Police forces in preparation for pilots that begin on 5 June.
‘Some of the technical issues have now been fixed,’ a Pito spokeswoman told Computing. ‘The changes include greater flexibility and the redesign of the interface to make it more user-friendly. We are on schedule to have it installed in all forces by March 2007.’
The NFLMS, recommended by Lord Cullen after the Dunblane tragedy in 1996, is intended to provide a searchable register of everyone who has owned or applied for a firearm certificate or shotgun licence. It became a legal requirement in the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell asked Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons last week why it has taken so long to put the system in place.
‘It is more than 10 years since a senior Scottish judge made this very specific recommendation and the Prime Minister has apparently no excuse or explanation for the delay,’ he said.
Blair replied: ‘We believe the measures we have taken are the best way to deal with the issue.’
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