Written question asked by John Hayes (Conservative) on Monday, 21 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 23 January 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 4 March 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Offensive Weapons: Injuries

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of all reported injuries as a result of assault were inflicted by knives in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Answer: From the information collected centrally on police recorded crime, it is not possible to identify those offences where an assault with a knife resulted in injury. The details of the circumstances of specific offences do not feature in the recorded crime statistics.However, with effect from April 2007, police forces have been providing data on knife-enabled grievous bodily harm and robbery offences. The first full year's data for this will be available from July.

Secondary information