Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her article in The Daily Telegraph of 7 April 2018, we are determined to tackle violent crime, and there are enough officers on the streets to do so, if she will publish the statistical data on which the levels of knife crime were cited.

The Home Office publishes Open Data Tables on the number of selected offences involving a knife or a sharp instrument recorded by the police in England and Wales at the police force area level. The data are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

The police have the resources they need to do their important work. The police funding settlement for 2018/19 increases overall investment in policing by £460m, including over £280m from increased local funding through Council Tax. Decisions about the allocation of police resources and deployment of officers are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable PCCs. They are responsible for ensuring the needs of the local community are met. Many PCCs have set out their intention to use their additional funding to maintain or enhance front line policing.