Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether specialist tools for the purpose of DIY are exempted from Article 17 of the Offensive Weapons Bill in relation to online purchase.

Clause 17 of the Offensive Weapons Bill provides the definition of “bladed product” for the prohibition on the delivery of knives and other bladed items to residential addresses under Clause 15 of the Bill. A “bladed product” is an article which is, or has, a blade and is capable of causing serious injury to a person which involves cutting that person’s skin. If ordered online, and meeting the definition of “bladed product”, then these articles would need to be collected from a place where age verification can take place, either by the purchaser or their representative.

Specialist tools may be exempted from the prohibition on the delivery to a residential address dependant on the specific item in question.

The Bill provides a number of defences around the prohibition of delivery of bladed items to a residential address. For example, deliveries to business premises, including where a business is run from home, would not be affected by the prohibition. Other items that would be exempt from the prohibition would include encased razor blades, knives with a blade of less than 3 inches, knives that cannot cause serious injury, for example table knives and bladed products designed or manufactured to specifications from the buyer such as bespoke knives.