Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Knife Crime

Monday 23 March 2026 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Minister announced an ambition to halve knife crime in a decade, with a 8% reduction in knife crime and a 27% drop in knife homicides since the start of the Parliament.
  • Legislation to introduce a new offence of child criminal exploitation is being prepared, and the county lines programme has made over 4,000 safeguarding referrals since July 2024.
  • Minister defended the use of stop and search as a tool to tackle crime, rejecting a proposal from a Conservative MP without elaborating on specific reasons.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Harpreet Uppal Lab Huddersfield
Crime & Law Enforcement
Context

No specific background given, but the question seeks information on recent actions to combat knife crime.

Question

What recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle knife crime?

Answer from Sarah Jones

We have set an ambitious but essential target to halve knife crime in a decade, and we are already seeing results. Since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 8% and knife homicides are down 27% to their lowest level in a decade, but we must and will go further. We are working on the final plans for our cross-Government plan to halve knife crime, which we will publish soon.

Answered
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Q2 Harpreet Uppal Lab Huddersfield
Crime & Law Enforcement Children & Families
Context

15,500 children identified as at risk or involved in child criminal exploitation, often coerced by gangs into carrying weapons and trafficking drugs.

Question

Child criminal exploitation is a significant driver of knife crime in the UK. Around 15,500 children were identified as at risk or involved in exploitation in the year ending March 2025. Children are often coerced by gangs into carrying weapons for protection, storing drugs and trafficking illegal goods, often being criminalised themselves rather than treated as victims. What work is the Home Office doing to target the organised criminality behind CCE, and what structures are in place to support children and families in vulnerable situations?

Answer from Sarah Jones

We are introducing legislation to bring in a new offence of child criminal exploitation. Our county lines programme works extensively not just to tackle the criminals and to shut down the lines, but to safeguard young people. More than 4,000 safeguarding referrals have been made since July 2024, so while we are catching the criminals, we are also protecting the children.

Answered
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Q3 Matt Vickers Con Stockton West
Crime & Law Enforcement
Context

The question is about using stop and search as an effective tool to combat knife crime and drugs.

Question

Knife crime and drugs are destroying too many lives in our country, and stop and search is the best tool we have to take them off our streets. Does the Minister agree that the only people who should have anything to fear from stop and search are criminals? If so, why will she not adopt our proposal to allow the police to act on a single suspicion indicator, so that we can treble stop and search, and take weapons and drugs off our streets?

Answer from Sarah Jones

The hon. Gentleman thought that the way to tackle crime was to recruit more officers and put them behind desks, so I will not take any lessons from him. Stop and search is a powerful and important tool in tackling crime—nobody would disagree with that—and it is part of a range of interventions with which we can tackle knife crime. Knife-enabled robbery, for example, has plummeted in areas in which we have focused our resources since the election. We must use all the tools in our armoury, and stop and search is one of them.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not address the specific proposal to allow police to act on a single suspicion indicator or treble stop and search.

How: Took Lessons From Him, Will Not Take Any Lessons

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