Written question asked by Gareth Johnson (Conservative) on Monday, 31 October 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 November 2011. It was answered by Lord Herbert of South Downs (Conservative) on Thursday, 3 November 2011 on behalf of the Home Office.

Knives: Crime

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of knife crime were recorded in (a) North Kent and (b) Kent in each of the last four years.

Answer: Data for selected offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument has been collected by the Home Office since April 2007. From this data, it is not possible to identify which offences specifically involved the use of a knife.Data is collected at police force area level only, so it is not available for North Kent.In 2007-08, Kent police force recorded 332 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument for a select group of offences. The offences were: homicide, attempted murder, grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, GBH without intent and robbery.In 2008-09 the offence coverage was expanded to also include actual bodily harm (ABH), threats to kill, sexual assault and rape offences. Therefore figures are not comparable with those offences recorded in 2007-08. In 2008-09, Kent police force recorded 556 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument. The corresponding figure for 2009-10 was 386 offences.Data for homicides involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument for 2010-11 will be available at police force area level from January 2012. The total of other offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by Kent police in 2010-11 was 343 offences (as above, this figure comprises attempted murder, threats to kill, GBH, ABH, robbery, rape and sexual assault but excludes homicides).

Secondary information