Number of times pupils found with offensive weapons/potentially offensive weapons in schools
Case reference FOI2023/00150
Published 3 February 2023
Request
I am writing to ask for your assistance with the below FOI request pertaining to data that we believe you hold.
For the purposes of this request, the time frames to be considered are:
- For the school year 2018/2019
- For the school year 2019/2020
- For the school year 2020/2021
- For the school year 2021/2022
- For the school year 2022/2023 so far, up to and including the day of your response to this inquiry.
1. Broken down by the above timeframes, how many times have pupils been found with offensive, or potentially offensive, weapons on school premises within your local authority area? This includes being in possession of an article with a blade or point, or corrosive substance.
2. Can you please provide a breakdown of the weapons found and the age of the child involved in each case?
3. Please detail in each case, if the case was reported to police?
Response
I am writing to ask for your assistance with the below FOI request pertaining to data that we believe you hold.
For the purposes of this request, the time frames to be considered are:
- For the school year 2018/2019
- For the school year 2019/2020
- For the school year 2020/2021
- For the school year 2021/2022
- For the school year 2022/2023 so far, up to and including the day of your response to this inquiry.
1. Broken down by the above timeframes, how many times have pupils been found with offensive, or potentially offensive, weapons on school premises within your local authority area? This includes being in possession of an article with a blade or point, or corrosive substance.
2. Can you please provide a breakdown of the weapons found and the age of the child involved in each case?
3. Please detail in each case, if the case was reported to police?
In response to questions 1-3 the Local Authority do not hold this information it is held by the schools, you would need to contact the schools directly to obtain this information. The below link provides the contact details for the schools in Herefordshire.
Schools directory - Herefordshire Council
For information, where a school issues a suspension or exclusion and the incident involved the threat or use of an offensive weapon or prohibited item, this is reported as part of the statutory school census.
Data on the number of exclusions and suspensions where the threat or use of an offensive weapon or prohibited item was recorded can be found in the following publication:
Permanent exclusions and suspensions in England
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.