To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of reported murders were committed with knives in the most recent period for which figures are available. (181759)

Available information relates to offences recorded that are currently classed as homicide where the apparent method of killing is ‘sharp instrument’, and was included within ‘Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2006-07’ (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 03/08, page 12). As of 12 November 2007, 35 per cent. of the homicides recorded by police in England and Wales during 2006-07 involved the use of a sharp instrument.