Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the efficacy of police stop and search powers in reducing knife crime.

Stop and search helps to seize deadly weapons from our streets and is a vital tool in the fight against violent crime. We fully support the police in their use of this power to tackle serious violence and protect our communities from harm. There were over 9,300 offensive weapons arrests in 2018-19, a 20% increase on the previous year, and the Metropolitan Police Service believe that the increased use of stop and search is helping cut serious injuries among under 25s.