Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to use artificial intelligence to help (a) predict and (b) prevent violent attacks involving (i) machetes and (ii) zombie knives.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is working across government and with operational partners to develop our understanding of the threats and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. The Home Office has already convened and will be convening further meetings to identify the best opportunities to use artificial intelligence to prevent and detect crime of various types. The use of artificial intelligence to predict and prevent serious violence is an operational matter for Chief Constables.
Knife crime is below its pre-pandemic level and the Home Office is investing over £110m to tackle serious violence in 2023/24. This includes:
We are also banning certain types of large knives (such as zombie style knives and machetes), giving the police more powers to seize dangerous weapons, creating a new offence of possession of a bladed weapon with an intent to harm, and increasing sentences for those who import, manufacture or sell dangerous weapons to under 18s.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing the maximum penalty for carrying a knife to more than four years’ imprisonment on trends in the level of knife crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The maximum penalty for being in possession of a knife in public is 4 years imprisonment. In year ending March 2023, the average custodial sentence lengths for knife possession and threatening offences are the highest they have been in the last 10 years, 7.5 months and 14.8 months respectively. Sentencing is a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the independent Sentencing Council.
However, in recognition of the seriousness of offences related to knives, the law provides for minimum custodial sentences for repeat knife possession and offences that involve threatening with a weapon. Measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act which came into force in 2022 strengthened existing legislation to make sure that the courts always impose at least the minimum term unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Whilst the government is not currently considering increasing the maximum penalty of 4 years imprisonment, the government continues to strengthen knife legislation.
On 30 August, the government published its response to the consultation on new legislative proposals to tackle knife crime. We will introduce a ban on certain types of large knives that seem to appeal to those who want to use these items as weapons, for instance zombie style knives or machetes. We will also give the police more powers to seize dangerous weapons, create a new offence of possession of a bladed weapon with an intent to harm, and increase sentences for those who import, manufacture or sell dangerous weapons to under 18s.
The full government response can be found here: Government response to consultation on proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other bladed articles in crime. (publishing.service.gov.uk)
The measures detailed in the government response will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows, and we will continue to keep our knife legislation under review.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to tackle illegal online advertisement of knives intended to encourage (a) combat and (b) violent behaviour.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Under measures in the Knives Act 1997 it is an offence to market a knife in a way which indicates, or suggests, that it is suitable for combat, or is otherwise likely to encourage violent behaviour involving the use of the knife as a weapon. A person found guilty of this offence on indictment can face up to 2 years imprisonment or a fine or both.
We are also introducing the Online Safety Bill which is currently in its final stages in Parliament. The legislation will achieve Royal Assent this Autumn and Ofcom’s powers will commence shortly after.
For the first time in the UK, tech companies are going to be accountable to an independent regulator to keep their users, particularly children, safe. They will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.
Schedule 7 of the Bill sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons online, including sales from online marketplaces. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity including removing any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.
In addition, as part of DCMS' Online Advertising Programme, the government will introduce a new and targeted regulatory framework for paid-for online advertising, which will focus on tackling illegal advertising and increasing the protection of children and young people from adverts for products and services that are illegal to sell.
DCMS will be issuing a consultation on the details of the proposed regulation in due course and have convened a ministerially-led industry taskforce to drive forward non-legislative action meanwhile.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Government response to the Consultation on new knife legislation proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other bladed articles in crime, published on 30 August 2023, which (a) type and (b) size of (i) machetes, (ii) swords and (iii) other bladed weapons are covered by the proposals.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 18 April 2023 and 6 June 2023, the Government ran a consultation on five proposals to tackle knife crime, including a targeted ban on certain types of machetes and knives which appear to be designed to look intimidating, but which have no practical purpose. The consultation followed engagement with the police who had raised concerns about the use of fantasy and zombie type machetes and knives in crime.
On 30 August the Home Office published the government response to the consultation:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-proposed-legislation
As set out in the consultation response, the government is currently considering the precise description of the items we wish to ban following feedback from respondents to the consultation. This includes considering the following features:
- Cutting edges – plain and serrated
- Sharp pointed end
- Length of the blade
- Holes in the blade
- Other features - spikes, protuberances, hooks
These features are being considered to differentiate the types of machetes and knives which appear to have been designed to look intimidating and have no practical purpose, from the types of machetes and knives which are used for agriculture, gardening and a range of other jobs and pastimes.
We have focused on the features commonly found in the knives and machetes that the police have brought to our attention as increasingly being used for serious crime and serious violence.
As set out in the consultation response, during our conversations with the police swords were not raised as a specific concern and in discussion with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), we agreed to focus on zombie style machetes and knives in this consultation. However, we will keep this under review, should any operational need arise to extend the ban to swords and other bladed articles or offensive weapons.
More widely, it is already an offence to have an article with a blade or point in a public place without good reason and this includes swords. Upon conviction for this offence a person can be liable for up to four years imprisonment.
It is also an offence to sell any sword or machete to anyone under 18 and one of our proposals is to increase the maximum sentence for this offence to two years imprisonment.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press notice entitled Government bans machetes and zombie knives, published by her Department on 30 August 2023, whether her proposal to ban the online sale of machetes and other bladed weapons includes swords without serrated edges.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 18 April 2023 and 6 June 2023, the Government ran a consultation on five proposals to tackle knife crime, including a targeted ban on certain types of machetes and knives which appear to be designed to look intimidating, but which have no practical purpose. The consultation followed engagement with the police who had raised concerns about the use of fantasy and zombie type machetes and knives in crime.
On 30 August the Home Office published the government response to the consultation:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-proposed-legislation
As set out in the consultation response, the government is currently considering the precise description of the items we wish to ban following feedback from respondents to the consultation. This includes considering the following features:
- Cutting edges – plain and serrated
- Sharp pointed end
- Length of the blade
- Holes in the blade
- Other features - spikes, protuberances, hooks
These features are being considered to differentiate the types of machetes and knives which appear to have been designed to look intimidating and have no practical purpose, from the types of machetes and knives which are used for agriculture, gardening and a range of other jobs and pastimes.
We have focused on the features commonly found in the knives and machetes that the police have brought to our attention as increasingly being used for serious crime and serious violence.
As set out in the consultation response, during our conversations with the police swords were not raised as a specific concern and in discussion with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), we agreed to focus on zombie style machetes and knives in this consultation. However, we will keep this under review, should any operational need arise to extend the ban to swords and other bladed articles or offensive weapons.
More widely, it is already an offence to have an article with a blade or point in a public place without good reason and this includes swords. Upon conviction for this offence a person can be liable for up to four years imprisonment.
It is also an offence to sell any sword or machete to anyone under 18 and one of our proposals is to increase the maximum sentence for this offence to two years imprisonment.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department's proposals to ban the online sale of machetes and other bladed weapons published on 30 August 2023 includes banning the online sale of swords.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 18 April 2023 and 6 June 2023, the Government ran a consultation on five proposals to tackle knife crime, including a targeted ban on certain types of machetes and knives which appear to be designed to look intimidating, but which have no practical purpose. The consultation followed engagement with the police who had raised concerns about the use of fantasy and zombie type machetes and knives in crime.
On 30 August the Home Office published the government response to the consultation:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-proposed-legislation
As set out in the consultation response, the government is currently considering the precise description of the items we wish to ban following feedback from respondents to the consultation. This includes considering the following features:
- Cutting edges – plain and serrated
- Sharp pointed end
- Length of the blade
- Holes in the blade
- Other features - spikes, protuberances, hooks
These features are being considered to differentiate the types of machetes and knives which appear to have been designed to look intimidating and have no practical purpose, from the types of machetes and knives which are used for agriculture, gardening and a range of other jobs and pastimes.
We have focused on the features commonly found in the knives and machetes that the police have brought to our attention as increasingly being used for serious crime and serious violence.
As set out in the consultation response, during our conversations with the police swords were not raised as a specific concern and in discussion with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), we agreed to focus on zombie style machetes and knives in this consultation. However, we will keep this under review, should any operational need arise to extend the ban to swords and other bladed articles or offensive weapons.
More widely, it is already an offence to have an article with a blade or point in a public place without good reason and this includes swords. Upon conviction for this offence a person can be liable for up to four years imprisonment.
It is also an offence to sell any sword or machete to anyone under 18 and one of our proposals is to increase the maximum sentence for this offence to two years imprisonment.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion street-based knife crime incidents (a) were and (b) were not the result of gang activity in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not routinely collect information on whether offences involving knives or sharp instruments occurred on the street, or if they were related to gang activity.
Violent crime as measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales has fallen by 41% between the year ending March 2010 and the year ending December 2022.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what resources her Department plans to allocate to support anti-knife crime initiatives during the school summer holidays.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling serious violence, including knife crime, is a key priority for this government and we are doing everything we can to keep young people, families and communities safe.
We know that violence often increases over the summer months. The government is taking concerted action to try and mitigate any spike in violence and tackle its underlying causes, deploying a twin-track approach of tough enforcement to remove dangerous weapons from the streets with programmes that steer young people away from crime.
This financial year, the Government has made over £110m available to tackle serious violence. This includes continued investment in our Violence Reduction Units (VRUs), located in the twenty areas most affected by serious violence, which bring together local partners to tackle the drivers of violence in their area. VRUs continue to deliver preventative activity to young people at-risk of involvement in violence over the summer, providing early intervention programmes to divert young people away from a life of crime.
We are also continuing to invest in our ‘Grip’ hotspot policing programme, which operates in the same 20 areas as VRUs, and which will help to drive down serious violence this summer through using data to identify serious violence hotspots – often down to individual street level – and target operational activity in those areas. The combination of these two programmes have prevented an estimated 136,000 violent offences in their first three years of operation.
We are also supporting the police every step of the way in their efforts to crack down on knife crime. We have given them more powers and resources to go after criminals and take knives and other dangerous weapons off our streets, including through the recruitment of 20,000 additional officers and increasing police funding. New powers like Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) have been introduced to tackle repeated knife carrying, giving police the automatic right to search convicted offenders with an order.
Police recorded crime showed offences involving knives or sharp instruments decreased by 9% for the year ending December 2022, compared with the year ending March 2020.
The Crime Survey of England and Wales finds that violent offences have fallen by 41% and homicides by 11% since 2010.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide a list of projects funded by the £340 million allocated to tackle knife crime in last three years; and if her Department has allocated any additional funding (a) to tackle Serious Violent Crime, (b) to tackle Knife Crime and (c) for crime prevention activities in the last three years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since 2019 the Home Office has made available £340 million in the 20 police force areas of England and Wales (18 areas until 2022) most affected by serious violence, including knife crime, to support the work of local partners and the police in tackling these appalling crimes.
This includes £170m that we have made available for the Home Office Violence Reduction Unit Programme and £170m that we have made available for the Grip programme (previously known as Surge) hot spot policing programme. Violence Reduction Units bring together key partners including representatives of local authorities, health, education, and policing to identify the local drivers of violence and agree and deliver a programme of action in response to these. Through the Grip programme, we are funding additional, visible policing patrols and problem-solving activity in the streets and neighbourhoods most affected by violent crime. The police force areas in which Violence Reduction Unit and Grip projects are being delivered are: London, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Northumbria, Thames Valley, Lancashire, Essex, Avon & Somerset, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, Sussex, Hampshire, South Wales, Cleveland, and Humberside. Violence Reduction Unit and Grip funding will continue in the 23/24 financial year.
In addition to this, there is other funding from the Home Office for crime prevention activities.
Information regarding all Government grants statistics can also be found on Gov.uk.
The Government’s Spending Review announcements can also be found on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to tackle knife crime.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Tackling knife crime remains a priority and this Government will continue to do all it can to break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of individuals, families and communities.
We have taken significant action to both prevent and respond to crimes involving weapons through the Serious Violence Strategy, the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and increased stop and search powers.
We have recently consulted on further measures to tackle this issue.