This Government has set an ambitious but essential target: to halve knife crime over this decade. In the year ending June 2024, when we came into office, there were 237 knife related homicides, up from 203 in 2013/14.

We are already making tangible progress, since the start of this Parliament:

• Knife crime has fallen by 8%, meaning 4,229 fewer offences.
• Knife homicides are down by 27%.
• Hospital admissions for stabbings have fallen by 11%.
• We have banned dangerous weapons such as ninja swords and zombie style machetes.
• And we have taken nearly 60,000 knives off our streets.

But we must go further. Across all parts of the system, we will keep sharpening our focus: identifying those most at risk, intervening earlier, turning innovation into mainstream practice, ensuring our legislation is effective, taking tougher enforcement action, and holding every organisation accountable for delivering the reductions in violence that our communities deserve.  

This Government is committed to halving knife crime over the next decade, and we are already making clear progress. We are acting quickly and decisively to provide opportunities for children and young people at risk to prevent them from being drawn into knife crime and have already introduced a series of tough new measures to crack down on the availability and accessibility of knives. However, we must also ensure there is always firm action to deal with knife possession.

Reducing knife crime requires a step change in the way that the criminal justice system responds when a child is found in possession of a knife. Therefore, this guidance sets an expectation that the response to knife possession should always be Swift, Robust, Evidence-based and Thorough.
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