The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in magistrate courts, rather than the number of cases prosecuted. The following table shows, in each of the last three years, the number of offences charged under section 9 of the Theft Act 1968 (burglary), section 10 of the Theft Act 1968 (aggravated burglary), section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (possession of a blade or sharp point in a public place) and section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 (possession of an offensive weapon).

It is not possible to ascertain, from the central record of offences data held by the CPS, the particulars of each offence, such as whether charges under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 related to the possession of a knife or blade rather another sharply pointed implement. A single defendant may also be prosecuted for multiple offences.

The CPS maintains no central records of the number of cases prosecuted by in-house advocates by the specific offence. Such data could not reasonably be obtained locally or nationally other than by examining individual case files which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The Home Office, has made no assessment of the introduction and use of the Orcutt Police Nunchaku.

Data on the main stop and search powers used by police in England and Wales are published by the Home Office on an annual basis in the National Statistics series 'Police Powers and Procedures'. Latest published data are for the years up to and including the financial year 2010-11 and are included in the latest internet-only release, which is available at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/police-research/police-powers-procedures-201011/

As the above-mentioned publication does not show a breakdown by both offence category and self-defined

ethnicity, additional tables relating to 2009-10 and 2010-11 are being provided. Data for 2011-12 will be available after the next 'Police Powers and Procedures' release is published on 18 April 2013.

The number of stops and searches under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) are presented in table. Data on resultant seizures of weapons or drugs are not collected centrally; however data on arrests made after searches under section 1 are collected, and are presented in table 2.

It is possible that offensive weapons may be found during any type of search under section 1 PACE, therefore all types of search are provided in tables 1 and 2.

Arrests following stops and searches, as presented in table 2, are not necessarily linked to the reason for search. For example, a search for drugs could uncover offensive weapons. It is not possible, therefore, to calculate the proportion of searches resulting in an arrest per reason category.

Additionally, data on stops and searches in anticipation of violence made under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and the number of persons found with offensive weapons after such searches, are presented in table 3.

Data on charges resulting from stops and searches are not collected by the Home Office.

The available information relates to crimes recorded by the police in Merseyside. Firearms and knife crime data are only collected at police force

area level and so data are not available for Liverpool Walton and Liverpool. The Home Office does not collect any data on offences using physical weapons.

The latest available firearms data is for 2010-11 and shows that there were 226 firearms offences (excluding air weapons) recorded in Merseyside. Data for 2011-12 will be published by the Office for National Statistics on 7 February 2013.

Latest data for knife crime relates to 2011-12 and shows that there were 599 offences recorded by the police in Merseyside that involved a knife or sharp instrument. This figure only includes the offences of attempted murder, threats to kill, actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm, robbery, rape and sexual assaults.

Licences are only issued where a genuine need to possess prohibited weapons has been clearly demonstrated. In most instances, this will relate to the manufacture, sale or transfer of prohibited weapons by way of trade or business. Authorities have also been issued to individuals for a number of specific purposes. For example, the testing and evaluation of weapons, for forensic purposes or most recently for the purposes of competing in the London Olympics. The information requested in relation to the number of authorities issued since 2000 can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Licences are only issued where a genuine need to possess prohibited weapons has been clearly demonstrated. In most instances, this will relate to the manufacture, sale or transfer of prohibited weapons by way of trade or business. Authorities have also been issued to individuals for a number of specific purposes. For example, the testing and evaluation of weapons, for forensic purposes or most recently for the purposes of competing in the London Olympics. The information requested in relation to the number of authorities issued since 2000 can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The number of individuals proceeded against at magistrates court and sentenced to an immediate custody at all courts for having a bladed or pointed article in a public place in England and Wales, from 2005 to 2011 can be viewed in the table:

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many reported incidents of (a) murder, (b) attempted murder, (c) wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and (d) wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent by use of a knife or sharp instrument there have been in each police force area in each of the last five years. (131181)

The number of homicide offences recorded by the police involving a knife or sharp instrument is taken from the Homicide Index. The latest published data on homicides covers the period up to 2010/11 for England and Wales. Data for 2011/12 are due to be published by ONS in February 2013. Due to the small number of offences recorded data at police force area level are not routinely published.

Knives or sharp instruments are taken to be involved in an incident if they are used to stab or cut, or as a threat. Please note data for 2007/08 are not comparable with those shown for later years due to changes in the way these offences were recorded.

Data for the offence types in question are provided for the last five financial years (April to March) for all police forces areas in the following link:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/what-we-do/publication-scheme/published-ad-hoc-data/crime-and-justice/december-2012/index.html

Data for 2011 /12 on selected offences involving a knife or sharp instrument have been published by ONS in the data tables accompanying the quarterly crime statistics released in July 2012. This statistical bulletin is available on the ONS website here:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-march-2012/index.html

Separate data for Northern Ireland are published by the Police Service for Northern Ireland and the latest figures can be found here:

http://www.psni.police.uk/monthly_crime_bulletin_apr-sep_12_13.pdf

The Scottish Government do not publish figures separately on offences involving a knife or sharp instrument.

The number of finished admission episodes with an external cause code of injuries relating to sharp objects or firearms is shown in the following table. These data are for residents in England, London Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and City and Hackney Primary Care Trust (PCT) for 2004-05 to 2011-12 and 2012-13 April to June provisional data. We have provided the data related to assault by a sharp object, as well as data for firearm wounds.

It should be noted that the vast majority of people who attend hospital due to assault by a sharp object (including knives), are treated without being admitted to hospital—there are no accurate data on the number of people who attend hospital for treatment for this type of assault but are not admitted.

The number of individuals, aged 18 or younger (a) proceeded against and (b) received a custodial sentence for having a bladed or pointed article in a public place in England and Wales, in 2010 and 2011, can be viewed in the following table.

The table shows the court location where the defendants listed in the selected previous answers were sentenced between 2008 and 2010.

These figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.

The Department does not specifically collect data on the number of pupils permanently excluded for being in possession of a weapon.

Information on the reason for exclusion is collected under the following categories:

physical assault against a pupil/adult; verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against a pupil/adult; bullying; racist abuse; sexual misconduct; drug and alcohol related; damage; theft; persistent disruptive behaviour; and other. Exclusions resulting from a pupil carrying an offensive weapon are recorded under the category ‘verbal abuse/threatening behaviour’ but cannot be separately identified.

The latest data on permanent exclusions by reason at national and local authority level were published in Tables 9 and 21, respectively, of the “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England” Statistical First Release on 28 July 2011 at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001016/index.shtml

The Department does not specifically collect data on the number of pupils permanently excluded for being in possession of a weapon.

Information on the reason for exclusion is collected under the following categories:

physical assault against a pupil/adult; verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against a pupil/adult; bullying; racist abuse; sexual misconduct; drug and alcohol related; damage; theft; persistent disruptive behaviour; and other. Exclusions resulting from a pupil carrying an offensive weapon are recorded under the category ‘verbal abuse/threatening behaviour’ but cannot be separately identified.

The latest data on permanent exclusions by reason at national and local authority level were published in Tables 9 and 21, respectively, of the “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England” Statistical First Release on 28 July 2011 at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001016/index.shtml