TWENTIETH REPORT
The Committee of Public Accounts has agreed to
the following Report:—
HOME OFFICE: HANDGUN SURRENDER AND COMPENSATION
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Between July 1997 and February 1998 the biggest
ever compulsory surrender of legally held firearms in Great Britain,
designed to improve public safety, took place. Over 162,000 handguns
were handed into police stations throughout England, Scotland
and Wales during two surrender periods. Large-calibre handguns
had to be surrendered between 1 July and 30 September 1997. Small-calibre
handguns could be handed in voluntarily from 1 July 1997, but
otherwise had to be surrendered to the police during February
1998.[1]
2. Compensation was payable on eligible handguns,
ancillary equipment and ammunition. The total expected cost of
the scheme is £95 million, comprising £87 million in
compensation payments, and administrative costs of £8 million,
including special grants to police forces.[2]
3. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and
Auditor General, the Committee took evidence from the Home Office
on the management by the Home Office and the police of the surrender
and compensation, with particular reference to:
- the arrangements for surrender and destruction
of handguns and the associated ancillary equipment including ammunition;
and
- the design of the schemes and the payment of
compensation.
4. Police forces throughout Great Britain succeeded
in collecting over 162,000 handguns and 700 tonnes of ammunition
within the three-month and one-month surrender periods with no
major incidents, and to that extent the implementation of the
policy was a success. We drew three main conclusions from the
National Audit Office's work and our further examination.
- We consider that the Home Office should have
obtained a better idea of the total number of handguns due to
be surrendered, and should have ensured that forces maintained
records to show whether all legally held handguns had been surrendered
or otherwise accounted for. We note that in March 1997 the Home
Office and police forces had estimated that 187,000 handguns were
held legally, and that in the event the number collected was about
162,000.
- We are concerned that many claimants have had
to wait a long time for payment - many more than a year. Better
planning and quicker action could have reduced the delays. For
example, better design of the schemes could have helped to decrease
the proportion of more complex claims requiring owners to have
their handguns valued rather than be compensated at a prescribed
rate. The lower than expected throughput of claims became apparent
soon after the Home Office's firearms compensation section began
to process them, and the Home Office should not have waited until
15 months after the start of schemes to increase the numbers of
staff employed on processing claims.
- We recognise that the Home Office needed to strike
an appropriate balance between its accountability for the schemes
and the operational role of the local police forces in helping
to implement them. We consider, however, that the Home Office
had an overriding responsibility for ensuring the regularity and
propriety of the schemes' operation. Although the forces visited
by the National Audit Office had taken steps to reduce the risk
of irregularities and fraud, irregularities have been under investigation
in another force. We are concerned that the Home Office issued
no guidance to forces on controls over the risk of errors and
fraud.
5. Our more specific conclusions and recommendations
are set out below.
1 C&AG's Report, (HC 225 of Session 1998-99), paras
1.1, 1.3 Back
2 ibid,
1.4-1.5 and Figure 2 Back
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