FOI 644/26

Request

Please could I request the following data under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

For academic years 2021/22 to 2024/25 (or latest available):

• The number of incidents recorded by police involving weapons at schools
• The number of incidents where weapons were seized from individuals at schools
• The number of incidents attended at schools which resulted in significant safety measures (if recorded).

For the most recent year available:

4)   The number of weapons seized by police in incidents at schools

5)   The youngest age of an individual found in possession of a weapon at a school (if recorded)

6)   If available, please include a breakdown of weapon type (e.g. knife, firearm, other).

If any of this information is not held centrally, please confirm.

For clarity, “significant safety measures” includes incidents at schools resulting in measures such as lockdown, partial lockdown, or similar restrictions on movement.

Clarification: The applicant is content to remove Q3 to avoid engaging S12(2) fees exemption.

Response

We consulted with our Performance and Business Intelligence Analysts who have provided the following information in relation to your request.

Question 1

Questions 2 & 4

Question 5

The youngest individual found in possession of a weapon at a school in the academic year 2024/2025

was 7 years old.

Question 6

In the academic year 2024/2025 five ‘knives’ were seized along with five ‘other’ weapons.

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete however please note that the detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes, and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations, and this should be taken into account when those data are used.