The Council has published an evaluation of the impact and implementation of the bladed articles and offensive weapons definitive guidelines that came into effect on 1 June 2018:

• Bladed articles and offensive weapons – possession
• Bladed articles and offensive weapons – threats
• Bladed articles and offensive weapons (possession and threats) – children and young people

Overall, the evidence reviewed suggests that the group of guidelines is generally working as intended, although conclusions about the guidelines’ impact are likely to be affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from early 2020 onwards.

We have also published data collected at magistrates’ courts before and after the definitive guidelines came into effect that were drawn on as part of the evaluation.