Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the potential implications for her policies of the availability of crossbows through online purchases.

The Government is actively considering the introduction of further controls around crossbows. This follows a call for evidence on strengthening controls on crossbows on public safety grounds, which ran from 14 February to 9 April 2024, and tested ideas for whether there should be some form of licensing regime that would provide further controls on the use, ownership and supply of crossbows including whether sellers should be licensed in some way. We will publish the Government’s response to the call for evidence shortly, which will include what action we intend to take.

Crossbows are age restricted items and it is an offence, under the Crossbows Act 1987, for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a crossbow or parts of a crossbow. The Government is taking action to strengthen the law on age verification for the online sale and delivery of crossbows through measures currently in the Crime and Policing Bill.