Mr. Ruffley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many knives have been recovered in knife amnesty initiatives in (a) England and Wales and (b) each police force area in each of the last five years. [219158]
Mr. Coaker:
The Home Office does not collect centrally information on knife amnesty initiatives led by local police forces.
A national knife amnesty, which ran from 24 May 2006 to 30 June 2006, encouraged people to dispose of knives and other weapons in secure bins at police stations throughout England and Wales. A total of 89,964 knives were handed over during the programme, according to figures compiled by forces in England and Wales. A table of returns from each force follows.
Knife amnesty—total items surrendered 24 May-30 June 2006
Force
Domestic
Non Dom
Weapons
Of interest
Total
Avon Somerset
1,510
634
129
69
2,342
Bedfordshire
503
172
45
42
762
Cambridgeshire
982
188
465
0
1,635
Cheshire
1,241
457
287
55
2,040
City of London
38
0
4
18
60
Cleveland
729
224
159
41
1,153
Cumbria
1,082
146
46
27
1,301
Derbyshire
2,257
91
623
24
2,995
Dorset
1,029
275
186
8
1,498
Durham
593
326
124
19
1,062
Dyfed Powys
470
188
121
14
793
Devon Cornwall
2,626
601
375
150
3,752
Essex
1,517
446
209
51
2,223
Gloucestershire
702
309
50
0
1,061
GMP
1,172
403
276
14
1,865
Gwent
1,263
419
187
67
1,936
Hampshire
3,209
841
529
57
4,636
Herts
1,659
493
20
22
2,194
Humberside
877
152
261
23
1,313
Kent
2,603
704
421
0
3,807
Lancashire
948
389
187
1
1,525
Leicestershire
950
158
62
0
1,170
Lincs
731
422
260
35
1,448
Merseyside
1,142
630
33
0
1,888
Met(1)
0
0
0
0
9,145
Norfolk(2)
(383)
(104)
(18)
(5)
1,723
North Wales
1,152
392
177
10
1,731
North Yorkshire
940
285
346
53
1,624
Northants
1,312
174
140
0
1,626
Northumbria
1,576
667
306
57
2,606
Nottinghamshire
1,086
419
127
17
1,649
South Wales
1,351
505
143
23
2,022
South Yorks
1,143
68
379
42
1,631
Staffordshire
1,200
524
222
64
2,010
Suffolk
975
298
171
0
1,444
Surrey
959
252
89
11
1,311
Sussex
2,479
936
253
89
3,757
Thames Valley
2,475
1,235
620
0
4,330
Warwickshire
494
179
147
36
856
West Mercia
1,523
440
164
0
2,127
West Midlands
1,979
298
510
451
3,238
West Yorkshire
851
332
175
17
1,375
Wiltshire
894
177
120
9
1,200
Total(3)
52,222
16,595
9,148
1,658
89,864
(1) MPS has supplied a total figure only. (2) Breakdown figures for Norfolk relate to items surrendered in first week only. (3) Breakdown figures do not equal final total due to footnote 2.
