Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what recent steps she has taken to help increase prosecution rates for knife crime.

This Government is committed to halving knife crime in the next decade as set out in our Safer Streets Mission.

The number of cases that the CPS prosecuted for possession of a knife under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and Prevention of Crime Act 1953 has risen from 26,500 (2022-2023) to 27,818 (2023-2024).

The Crime and Policing Bill introduces several knife crime specific measures including a new offence of possession of a knife or offensive weapon with intent to use it for violence; and increasing the maximum penalties for offences relating to the sale and possession of offensive weapons from six months to two years imprisonment. We will also give police power to seize and destroy knifes that they suspect will be used for violence.

Additionally, the Government has set up a national taskforce with policing leaders, which the CPS is supporting. This taskforce is exploring actions to prevent, tackle and reduce knife enabled robbery.

The Government is also acting to address the deadly cycle of knife crime by getting more dangerous weapons off our streets and preventing young people from being drawn into violent crime in the first place, with a radical new Young Futures prevention programme and early intervention for those at-risk. Working with our criminal justice partners, we will also introduce tough consequences for youths caught with knives, including more referrals to Youth Offending Teams.