Firearms database delayed again

A £5.4m national firearms register has been delayed yet again because of technical problems.

The NFLMS (National Firearms Licensing Management System) was expected to start going live this month but the Home Office has told silicon.com that it has been delayed again.

The system was proposed back in 1997 after the Dunblane school shootings but the project has stumbled a number of times since then.

It was first due to in the summer of 2001, then pushed back until August 2004. The system was finally expected to start going live on 11 July this year but now the Home Office has said it will be pushed back again.

"Development is now complete. The second phase of pilot testing has not yet taken place due to a technical issue arising during testing. Pito (Police Information Technology Organisation) is working with its supplier to urgently resolve this issue so that pilot testing can go ahead," the Home Office said.

"As a consequence, pilot testing did not go ahead on 11 July and Pito will inform police firearms licensing units as soon as a new pilot can be arranged with the forces involved," it added.

Load testing for the live piloting is expected to resume in the autumn.

Once it has been implemented, police forces will update the NFLMS locally with firearms and licensing information. That information will then be transferred in real time to the national firearms register held on the Police National Computer.

Once the information on firearms and related certificates is on the PNC register, it will be searchable by all forces in England, Scotland and Wales.