Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has of the potential merits of introducing a licensing system for online purchases of knives for certain trades.

We have no plans to introduce a licensing system for the online purchases of knives. We have published a consultation on new legislation on offensive and dangerous weapons, which includes proposals to prevent knives sold online being delivered to a private residential address, and ensuring instead they are collected in person at a place where age ID can be checked.