Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) homicides and (b) other offences involved the use of a ninja sword in the last three years.

The Home Office Homicide Index holds detailed data on homicides recorded by the police in England and Wales. Information on the type of sharp instrument used in a homicide was added to the collection in April 2022. These data, for the year ending March 2023, are due to be published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in February 2024.

The Home Office does not routinely collect information on the types of knives or sharp instruments used in other offences.

The year ending June 2023 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) published by the ONS shows that violent incidents have fallen by 52% since the year ending March 2010.