Agenda item

(1)  The Chairman welcomed the guests to the Committee.

(2)  Mr Whiddett and Mr Jewell introduced themselves to the Committee and briefly outlined the roles and responsibilities of their posts within Trading Standards.

(3)  Please explain how Kent County Council’s Trading Standards service helps to prevent the sale of knives to persons under the age of 18 and discuss the importance of multi-agency working to help prevent the sale of knives to persons under the age of 18.

Mr Jewell said that his role specialised in Illicit Alcohol and Tobacco, Underage Sales, Petroleum and Explosives. He worked hard to support team members with the delivery of the prevention of the sale of knives to persons under the age of 18 years old. Much of this work involved liaising with partnership agencies and public services. He added that he was the Chairman of a Trading Standards focus group.

(4) How does legislation affect the work carried out by Trading Standards?

Mr Whiddett said that there was no requirement, under the current Criminal Justice Act 1988, for Trading Standards to carry out investigations relating to the sale of knives to persons under the age of 18. However, there was an agreement between Trading Standards and Kent police to conduct these investigations due to work that had been undertaken by Trading Standards historically on the issue. He said that the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 was underway and was expected to become live in October 2019. The legislation within the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 scrutinises the sale of knives online. He added that Kent Trading Standard’s focused on partnership working with national retailers, assessing and responding to issues appropriately and the prioritisation of young people’s health and safety.

Mr Jewell said that the Trading Standard’s focus group were in the process of responding to the Home Office consultation on the issue of knife crime and discussing ways in which Trading Standards could improve the process of the sale of knives within the retail sector, ensuring that individual’s under the age of 18 were not able to purchase knives in a shop or online. Mr Jewell talked about the Challenge 25 test purchase scheme that had been undertaken recently in three parts of the UK and the opportunity for Trading Standards to advise businesses and take necessary action in order to strengthen the policy. Mr Jewell talked briefly about the 14 intelligence report checks that had recently been carried out.

(4)  Is there a danger of people assuming that knife crime issues would be resolved solely by ensuring that all retailers only sold knives to persons over the age of 18?

Mr Whiddett said that although solving the issue within the retail sector would not put a stop to knife crime, Trading Standards were working hard to ensure that more data was collected in relation to the types of knives that were used during knife crime related incidents. Mr Jewell added that retailers needed to make it impossible for individuals under the age of 18 to buy knives in their shops and online. He emphasised the importance of engaging with the police and borough councils to obtain more information in relation knife crime incidents in Kent.

(5)  What more can Kent County Council do to raise awareness of knife crime related incidents and to make the public aware of the danger of knives if placed in the wrong hands?

Mr Whiddett talked about the close working relationship between Trading Standards and Kent County Council’s Police and Crime Panel and the ways in which they could work together to support Kent businesses to ensure that there is an appropriate balance in addressing issues and also ensuring that business reputations were not damaged.

(6)  Is there much information available on the types of knives used during knife crime related incidents?

Mr Whiddett said that although there was very little information readily available in relation to the types of knives that were being used during knife crime related incidents, Trading Standards were working closely with partners in a bid to retrieve more information on the types of knives that were used and perhaps being bought specifically for use during knife attacks. Mr Jewell added that the types of knives used during knife attacks was crucial to Trading Standard’s test purchasing activities and finding out which retailers were selling these types of knives.

(7)  Could we find a way of registering the specific types of knives used in knife crime related incidents?

Mr Jewell said that there were upcoming projects that Treading Standards could work towards to ensure that there was more data available. Mr Whiddett said that the police dealt with offensive weapons and Trading Standards would then interact with the retailer in question and ask them why they were selling a particular type of knife. He added that from the work that Trading Standards had undertaken, the majority of retailers were not selling extreme knives that were thought to be used solely during knife attacks.

(8)  How are online sales monitored in relation to the sale of knives to persons under the age of 18?

Mr Whiddett said that whilst Trading Standards are able to monitor online retailers in the UK, it was not possible to monitor retailers outside of the UK that were shipping packages containing knives or offensive weapons to individual’s living in the UK. He added that it was the responsibility of UK customs to monitor packages coming into the UK from other countries. In relation to online sales from UK-based retailers, Mr Whiddett said that the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 would propose a much better framework for online sales to be more responsible. He added that Trading Standards were working hard to ensure that sites such as Facebook were not permitting the sale of offensive weapons.

(9)  What are Trading Standards’ ambitions for the future with the resources available?

Mr Whiddett said that multi-agency work had brought many benefits to local areas within the county, Trading Standards were focused on increasing service delivery, prioritising readily available resources, daily operational issues and proactivity. Mr Jewell talked about the work that was taking place between Kent Trading Standards and Kent’s district councils. He said that the district councils were putting strategies in place to prevent knife crime. He said that early intervention was key in ensuring that young people were safeguarded against the use of knives and emphasised the importance of using social media as a platform to discourage young people from attempting to buy or use knives for the purpose of violence and support them wherever possible.

(10)       The Chairman thanked the members for attending and answering Members questions. He suggested that Trading Standards presented their positive work on a wider scale to ensure that the general public were aware of the positive steps that were being taken in Kent to tackle knife crime.