Knives in schools 519/2026

FOI Reference: 519/2026

Request:

I am requesting data on knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by your force where the incident took place on the premises of an educational setting attended by under-18s. For the purposes of this request, relevant settings include state-funded primary schools, state-funded secondary schools, special schools, sixth form colleges, further education colleges, and others. Please exclude universities and higher education institutions whose students are predominantly adults.

I am requesting this data for calendar years 2021 to 2025 inclusive, plus 2026 year to date where available.

1. I would like to know the outcome recorded for each offence, broken down by calendar year, using the following categories where possible: charged or summonsed (Outcome 1); youth caution - simple caution (Outcome 2); community resolution (Outcome 8); youth conditional caution (Outcome 19); deferred prosecution (Outcome 20); no further action (any NFA outcome - please specify sub-categories where possible); awaiting outcome or open; and any other outcome.
2. I would also like, where your force records or can identify the type of setting at which each incident took place, a breakdown of the total figures by setting type: primary school; secondary school; special school; sixth form or FE college; and setting type unknown or not recorded.
3. Finally, to understand whether incidents are concentrated in a small number of settings or spread more broadly, I would like an anonymous frequency distribution showing how many settings in your force area recorded 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 or more knife offences over the full period covered by this request (with 5 or more further broken down into 5–9, 10–19, and 20+ where possible). I am not requesting the names or identities of individual settings.

If data for any calendar year is not held in a readily retrievable format, please provide the closest available approximation and note the difference. This request covers offences at any time of day including outside normal hours and term time, and covers offences by or against persons of any age.

Response 1:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.

Response 2:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.

Response 3:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.

This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 29/06/2026.