Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to bring forward legislative proposals to restrict the sale of toy knives.

It is illegal to sell knives and certain articles with blade or point to anyone under 18 in England and Wales, by virtue of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. To go further in preventing the sale of knives to under 18s, the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 includes a provision that will stop knives from being sent to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18.

The definition of knife in the Criminal Justice Act includes any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and made or adapted for use in causing injury to a person. These words carry their normal meaning and we expect retailers to act responsibly and to consider carefully whether an item could commonly be defined as a knife.