Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many and what proportion of cases 16 and 17 year olds being convicted of committing a second knife offence the perpetrator received the mandatory four month Detention and Training Order since 17 July 2015.

Seventeen 16 to 17 year old offenders were found to have committed the offence between 17th July 2015 and 30th September 2015 and sentenced for the possession of a blade, point or an offensive weapon offence who also have one or more previous knife possession offence. Twelve of these offenders received a Detention and Training Order of at least 4 months.

Any decisions and assessments taken regarding the minimum mandatory penalty are made solely by the courts. Whilst the 4 month DTO is the minimum custodial term available for 16 to 17 year old offenders, the courts also have the power to set aside the minimum term in the event of a guilty plea and/or if time has been served in custody on remand or on a tag. A decision by the courts to reduce the minimum term will result in a community penalty.

These figures are based on information published on 10th December 2015 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/knife-possession-sentencing-quarterly-brief-july-to-september-2015

and will change when the outcomes of cases passing through the criminal justice system become available on the Police National Computer. On average it takes 86 days from charging an offender for a knife possession offence to the offender receiving the court outcome. Data for the next quarter is due to be published on Thursday 10 March.