Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2020 to Question 122689 on HMCTS: Weapons, how many (a) arrests have been made made and (b) prosecutions commenced as a result of weapon confiscations in courts in the last five years.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests for possession of weapons offences. These figures are published annually in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin. The latest bulletin, covering arrests from 2006/07 to 2019/20, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2020

In the last five years, there have been 92,991 arrests for possession of weapons offences in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Police).

Data on prosecutions resulting from weapons confiscations is not held by the Home Office or by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.