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Question reference: S7W-01719

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh North Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 July 2026
Current Status: Answered by Kirsten Oswald on 29 July 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S7W-01042 by Kirsten Oswald on 7 July 2026, regarding the number of incidents involving possession of a knife or bladed article that have been recorded in schools in each of the last five years, whether it will provide a breakdown of these figures by local authority.

Table 1 shows the number of police recorded crimes of Having in a school an article with a blade or point, by Local authority, from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Table 1: Recorded crimes of Having in a school an article with a blade or point (used and not used) by Local authority, Scotland, 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Crime type	Local authority	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Scotland	98	112	94	121	99
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Aberdeen City	6	4	6	7	8
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Aberdeenshire	14	11	12	16	13
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Angus	4	5	1	3	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Argyll & Bute	2	1	0	2	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Clackmannanshire	0	1	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Dumfries & Galloway	8	7	5	4	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Dundee City	2	4	3	1	4
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Ayrshire	1	1	4	3	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Dunbartonshire	1	0	0	4	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Lothian	1	1	0	0	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	East Renfrewshire	0	0	2	0	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Edinburgh, City of	7	8	8	8	6
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Falkirk	4	7	2	7	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Fife	10	11	6	5	14
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Glasgow City	9	9	8	16	15
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Highland	4	4	4	2	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Inverclyde	1	2	1	2	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Midlothian	1	4	5	2	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Moray	5	2	2	4	5
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	North Ayrshire	2	9	3	6	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	North Lanarkshire	3	5	0	5	4
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Orkney Islands	1	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Perth & Kinross	1	2	1	4	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Renfrewshire	1	2	1	3	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Scottish Borders	1	2	5	3	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	South Ayrshire	0	2	4	1	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	South Lanarkshire	5	6	6	5	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	Stirling	1	1	0	3	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	West Dunbartonshire	1	0	2	1	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point	West Lothian	2	1	1	3	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Scotland	37	27	35	28	28
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Aberdeen City	2	1	2	3	5
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Aberdeenshire	2	3	4	3	3
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Angus	1	0	0	2	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Clackmannanshire	3	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Dumfries & Galloway	1	1	1	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Dundee City	1	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Ayrshire	0	1	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Dunbartonshire	0	1	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Lothian	0	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	East Renfrewshire	1	0	2	0	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Edinburgh, City of	3	3	3	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Falkirk	2	2	2	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Fife	4	3	2	4	8
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Glasgow City	5	2	7	4	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Highland	0	2	0	2	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Midlothian	0	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Moray	1	1	5	2	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	North Ayrshire	0	2	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	North Lanarkshire	0	2	1	1	4
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Perth & Kinross	1	1	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Renfrewshire	2	1	0	1	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Scottish Borders	0	0	1	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	South Ayrshire	0	0	1	0	2
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	South Lanarkshire	5	1	0	0	1
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	Stirling	3	0	0	0	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	1	0
Having in a school an article with a blade or point used in other criminal activity	West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
Total recorded crimes of having an article with a blade or point in schools	Scotland	135	139	129	149	127