Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of all sentences handed down for (a) knife possession and (b) aggravated knife possession at (i) Keighley Magistrates' Court and (ii) Bradford Crown Court were custodial sentences in the last year for which figures are available.

Knives on our streets are a social scourge. Unlawful possession of a knife or offensive weapon is already a serious criminal offence (which carries a maximum 4 year custodial sentence). We are building on that to send a clear and unequivocal message that those who use a knife or offensive weapon to threaten another person are behaving in a wholly unacceptable manner and can expect an automatic custodial sentence.

This Government introduced the offences of threatening with a knife or offensive weapon in public or in a school. And last year, the Government made changes to the Simple Cautions Guidance issued to police to restrict the use of cautions for certain offences, including knife possession, in all but exceptional circumstances. The Ministry of Justice is also legislating on these changes within the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, to make it absolutely clear that cautions should no longer be used for serious offences such as those involving a knife or offensive weapon.

Within the sentencing framework, it is for judges and magistrates to decide the appropriate sentence in individual cases taking account of the harm the offence caused and the culpability of the offender. Under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, there is an obligation on courts, when sentencing for offences, to follow the guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council, unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.

Custodial sentences for knife possession handed down at Keighley Magistrates' Court and Bradford Crown Court, for the last available year, were as follows:

In the 12 months ending June 2014 there were two aggravated knife possession offences sentenced to immediate custody at Bradford Crown Court, and there was only a single aggravated knife possession offence sentenced to immediate custody at Keighley magistrate courts.

The figures provided have been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Department. The PNC holds details of all convictions and cautions given for recordable offences committed in England and Wales. In addition, as with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.