Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will consider bringing forward legislation jointly with the Secretary of State for Justice to help tackle cases in which parents or carers knowingly conceal from law-enforcement authorities a child’s procurement or possession of knives or other prohibited weapons.

There is no existing standalone legal duty to compel a parent, carer or any other bystander to report any criminality, including the procurement or possession of knives and weapons.

Where parents are unable or unwilling to respond to potential safeguarding risk relating to knives, the strength of the system around the child (including schools, children’s services, police and youth justice) is vital in spotting concerns and linking children to support.

The Government keeps legislation around knives under constant review. We are clear that knives should not be sold to those under 18 and measures in the Crime and Policing Bill (currently going through Parliament) are strengthening the legislation in this area by introducing a new two-step age verification process for online sale and delivery of knives. This will require buyers to provide a copy of their identification document, alongside a current photo, which will be verified at the point of sale and on delivery. It will be unlawful to deliver a parcel containing a knife to anyone except the verified buyer or to leave it on the doorstep or with a neighbour.

We are also creating a new offence of possessing a knife with the intention to commit unlawful violence, a duty on sellers to report bulk sales, and giving the police a new power to seize knives when they believe they are likely to be used in connection with unlawful violence. Additionally, measures are being introduced to provide the police with the power to require social media, marketplaces, and search services to take down content about illegal knives and offensive weapons.

In relation to bringing forward new legislation, the Chair of the Southport Inquiry recommended that the Law Commission review the merits of legal reform to introduce a legal duty on specified categories of person to report the criminality of another person. The Government will provide a full response to the recommendations from the Phase 1 report by the summer 2026.