Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a knife amnesty in England and Wales.

Tackling knife crime is a priority for the Government. Knife amnesties are an operational matter for individual police forces, and we have been encouraging police forces to undertake national coordinated weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre.

Action under Operation Sceptre includes police forces targeting habitual knife carriers, undertaking weapon sweeps of local areas, test purchases of knives from retailers, and highlighting the location of surrender bins where knives can be handed in locally. Twenty one forces took part in the most recent week of national action in October 2016.