Shailesh Vara corrected a written answer on Courts: Security
Andy Slaughter (Labour, Hammersmith) asked written question 18874 on 7 December 2015. Mr Shailesh Vara answered on 10 December 2015 for the Ministry of Justice, and Mr Shailesh Vara corrected the answer on 25 February 2016. The correction replaced 4 figures (1,002, 1,248, 6418, 8,743) with 5 figures (12,388, 12,701, 27,414, 4,063, 6,303). Altogether 375 words differ between the two versions.
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of confiscation of (a) knives, (b) firearms and (c) other weapons in (i) magistrates' and (ii) Crown courts there were in each year since 2010.
Original and corrected answer
Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.
| Original | Corrected |
|---|---|
| The Department takes the issue of security within courts extremely seriously and has a robust security and safety system to protect all court users and the judiciary. Security procedures, including the detection technology used, is continuously reviewed to ensure that security is as effective as possible’ The number of confiscated knives, firearms and other weapons in Magistrates and Crown Courts are as follows: | | | | | | | | Knives | Firearms (incl. Replicas) | Other weapons ** | Financial year | Crown | Magistrates | Crown | Magistrates | Crown | Magistrates | 12/13* | 322 | 1252 | 6 | 14 | 246 | 2325 | 13/14 | 705 | 3108 | 7 | 24 | 1002 | 6418 | 14/15 | 3,469 | 3,439 | 12 | 19 | Currently unavailable | Total | 4,496 | 7,799 | 25 | 57 | 1,248 | 8,743 | | | | | | | | * Figures for 2012/13 include data for an additional 8 week period from 1 February 2012 when the Total Facilities Management (TFM) contract was introduced. ** ’Other weapons’ are any items Security Officers deem could be used as a weapon, includes for 2014/15 items such as glass bottles and items which would not have been deemed as weapons. Robust analysis of the data is underway. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The figures provided do not cover the period prior to 1 February 2012 as there was no consolidated reporting of items confiscated from court users prior to the introduction of the Total Facilities Management contract. For the purpose of this answer only full financial years have been provided. | The Department takes the issue of security within courts extremely seriously and has a robust security and safety system to protect all court users and the judiciary. Security procedures, including the detection technology used, is continuously reviewed to ensure that security is as effective as possible’ The number of confiscated knives, firearms and other weapons in Magistrates and Crown Courts are as follows: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Knives | Firearms (incl. Replicas) | Other weapons (tools and sharp objects) Financial year | Crown | Magistrates | Crown | Magistrates | Crown | Magistrates 12/13* | 322 | 1252 | 6 | 14 | 246 | 2325 13/14 | 705 | 3108 | 7 | 24 | 1994 | 12,388 14/15 | 3,469 | 3,439 | 12 | 19 | 4,063 | 12,701 Total | 4,496 | 7,799 | 25 | 57 | 6,303 | 27,414 * Figures for 2012/13 include data for an additional 8 week period from 1 February 2012 when the Total Facilities Management (TFM) contract was introduced. The figures provided do not cover the period prior to 1 February 2012 as there was no consolidated reporting of items confiscated from court users prior to the introduction of the Total Facilities Management contract. For the purpose of this answer only full financial years have been provided. The increase in the number of weapons taken from people as they enter Crown Courts between 2012/13 and 2014/15 may be due to the implementation of more robust training for Court Security Officers; improved rates of recording for the taking of such items and improved searching of people entering Crown Courts. |
The question and answer on the Parliament website.
Related key figures
More on Shailesh Vara.
Receipt
| Read from | https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/435929?expandMember=true |
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| Date read | 15 October 2026 |
| SHA-256 | da2452b984a2b2f796614e3b45b6418e46f5e7c1e136c863b92934285adde2af |