Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been for (a) selling and (b) supplying knives to those aged under 18 in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of convictions in England and Wales for the following offences:

• 19522 - Selling a blade to a person aged under 18 years
• 19520 - Summary offences under Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 and Criminal Justice Act 1988

These can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the above offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.

19520 - Summary offences under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988’ includes offences related to supplying offensive weapons. However, information on whether these relate to supplying knives specifically or whether they are sold to those aged under 18 is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings database.