Chamber and committees

As the circumstances of each case can be unique the police use a range of tactics that suit the circumstances in order to encourage witnesses to come forward with evidence. In all cases, the Crimestoppers phoneline has an important contribution to make, and the Scottish Government has provided Crimestoppers with £90,000 funding this year to enable this important service to continue.

Parents and carers have a vitally important role in preventing children becoming involved in a gang or carrying a knife and we are committed to supporting their efforts. We provide Parentline Scotland with over £100,000 per annum to provide a free and confidential helpline for any parent or carer looking after a child in Scotland who need advice on a range of issues. And, through the national Violence Reduction Unit, leaflets providing parents and carers with advice on preventing their child becoming involved in this behaviour has been sent to every nursery, primary school, doctors surgery and library in Scotland.

The following table shows the mean time spent in prison for prisoners liberated during the past four years from custodial sentences for convictions where the main crime was handling offensive weapons. For liberations in 2007-08, the mean time served was 101 days. This figure has been increasing consistently since 2004-05.

Mean Number of Days Served for Handling Offensive Weapons

2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
63	68	79	101

Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services.

This information is not held in a way which allows it to be broken down by police force area.

There are no plans to record centrally and report the number of pupils caught carrying a knife at school.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0212-01.htm

The Scottish Government is aware of a range of resources and curricular programmes currently available in schools aimed to help reduce the carrying of knives and knife crime among young people.

The national Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) - funded by the Scottish Government - has promoted programmes and materials on the dangers of knife carrying to schools and young people as part of its anti-violence campaign, including the Knife City DVD and the t''s Jist for Protection performance by young people.

It is up to individual schools, youth organisations and local authorities to decide on which resources to use from the wide range of materials and educational programmes available on the dangers of illegal knife carrying, as they are best placed to judge the needs of the children and young people in their communities.

Information on the number of stop and searches conducted by police officers is not held centrally. This is a matter for individual police forces. However, statistics collected on the year long Safer Scotland anti-violence campaign show that the campaign proved a success in targeting knife and alcohol-related violence across Scotland. Figures taken from the Safer Scotland Anti Violence Campaign 06-07 Final Report show that some 74,000 searches were carried out. Further statistics can be found in the report itself, the link to the website is:

http://www.actiononviolence.co.uk/aov/files/Safer%20Scotland%20final%20report%2006%20-%2007.pdf.

Information on the number of knives seized by the police as a result of stop and searches is not held centrally. This is a matter for individual police forces. However, statistics collected on the year long Safer Scotland anti-violence campaign show that the campaign proved a success in targeting knife and alcohol-related violence across Scotland. Figures taken from the Safer Scotland Anti Violence Campaign 06-07 Final Report show that the campaign''s crackdown on those carrying knives saw some 74,000 searches carried out resulting in 1,375 knives being seized. Further statistics can be found in the report itself, the link to the website is:

http://www.actiononviolence.co.uk/aov/files/Safer%20Scotland%20final%20report%2006%20-%2007.pdf.

Information on the number of offensive weapons seized by the police as a result of stop and searches is not held centrally. This is a matter for individual police forces. However, statistics collected on the year long Safer Scotland anti-violence campaign show that the campaign proved a success in targeting knife and alcohol-related violence across Scotland. Figures taken from the Safer Scotland Anti Violence Campaign 06-07 Final Report show that some 74,000 searches were carried out resulting in 1,375 knives and 1,165 other weapons being seized. Further statistics can be found in the report itself, the link to the website is:

http://www.actiononviolence.co.uk/aov/files/Safer%20Scotland%20final%20report%2006%20-%2007.pdf.

Information on the number of knives seized by the police is not held centrally. This is a matter for individual police forces. However, statistics collected on the year long Safer Scotland anti-violence campaign show that the campaign proved a success in targeting knife and alcohol-related violence across Scotland. Figures taken from the Safer Scotland Anti Violence Campaign 06-07 Final Report show that the campaign''s crackdown on those carrying knives saw some 1,375 knives seized nationwide. Further statistics can be found in the report itself, the link to the website is:

http://www.actiononviolence.co.uk/aov/files/Safer%20Scotland%20final%20report%2006%20-%2007.pdf.