To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were arrested for an offence of possession of an offensive weapon or bladed article as a result of police usage of metal detection devices in the most recent period for which figures are available. (209301)

Information collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice on number of persons arrested is based on aggregated data reported by the 43 police forces in England and Wales. From these data we are not able to determine the circumstances of an arrest.