§ Lord Windleshamasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions have been recorded since the commencement of the Knives Act 1997. [HL641]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)Sections 1 to 7, 9 and 10 of the Knives Act 1997 came into force on 1 September 1997.
Data for England and Wales are given in the table:
Number of defendants prosecuted and convicted for offences under the Knives Act 1997, England and Wales, 1997–1999* Offence description/Year Prosecutions Convictions Unlawful marketing of knives—Selling or hiring [s 1 (4) (a)] 1997 1 1 1998 1 1 1999* — — Unlawful marketing of knives—Offers or exposes to sell or hire [s 1 (4) (b)] 1997 — — 1998 2 1 1999* 5 — Publication of any written, pictorial or other material in connection with the marketing of any knife—the material suggests or indicates that the knife is suitable for combat [s 2 (1) (a)] 1997 — — 1998 — — 1999* 1 — * Provisional (Quarter I and Quarter 2 only). For Scotland, such offences are not separately identifiable within the Scottish Executive's classification database of crimes and offences.
For Northern Ireland, there have been no prosecutions brought under the Act up to 31 December 1997. Data on prosecutions from January 1998 are not available.