East Lothian pupils caught with knives 11 times in schools in three years but Edinburgh, Fife, Midlothian and West Lothian unable to provide figures

Details released under freedom of information laws revealed police in the region were called to eight incidents of concern involving knives, which on three occasions were brandished.

Swiss army knives, a multi-tool, a butterfly knife and school home economics knives were among the items confiscated from students along with a craft knife which did not have a blade.

Five of the reports were in 2018, four in 2019 and two more in 2020, with six recorded in secondary schools and five in primaries. Specific circumstances for each incident have not been released but all involved a pupil wrongly carrying a knife.

In March 2019, it emerged a 12-year-old girl had been charged with carrying a knife in a primary school playground in Musselburgh, although police said at the time no pupil or staff member had been threatened or harmed.

An East Lothian Council spokesperson stressed staff and pupil safety is “paramount” and said: “Our schools have clear policies and procedures in place to ensure that, when inappropriate items are brought into school, it is dealt with seriously and appropriately. This includes working closely with the police when any allegations are made.

“We record all occasions where a pupil is found with an item that breaches our policies, regardless of the context. While such incidents are rare, we are clear that any such behaviour is unacceptable.

“Our schools work hard to support children and young people to understand their responsibilities as citizens.”

East Lothian Labour MSP Iain Gray said it was important to have perspective given the small numbers, but said the finding of any knife in a school is “clearly worrying and has to be treated seriously.”

He said local schools are dedicated to tackling all potential forms of violence and that secondaries have been working on preventative education with police to raise awareness of knife crime and its consequences.

Data collection concerns

East Lothian Council was the only one of five local authorities approached by the Evening News to provide details on the number of pupils caught in possession of knives.

Teams in Edinburgh and Fife said the cost of obtaining information would exceed the statutory maximum £600 limit, due to the manual searching of individual pupil records to identify how many incidents involving weapons involved knives.

West Lothian Council refused to provide details on the basis that disclosing it could risk breaching personal data because low numbers might lead to identification. Midlothian Council failed to respond.

In December, a 13-year-old boy was charged with carrying a kitchen knife in a West Lothian school. The blade was found inside a pupil’s school bag and it is understood that, in the days prior to the incident, the pupil concerned had been involved in an incident with another boy at the school.

No one was hurt and the pupil concerned was given a five day suspension from the school.

Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said pupils carrying knives is “extremely concerning” and those taking a weapon into school must be reprimanded and a clear message sent that carrying a knife will not be tolerated.

In December 2017 during Parliament, Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr MSP raised concerns about data collection for knives in schools across Scotland after revealing about half of councils were failing to do it.

Mr Briggs added: “It is worrying and disappointing that we are no further forward on having data for pupils caught with a knife in school, three years after a promise from the First Minister to improve data collection.”

Focus on prevention

A Scottish Government spokesperson said all forms of violence are unacceptable in schools and the safety of young people and staff is “paramount.”

The spokesperson said they advocate an approach for schools and councils to work with pupils on the underlying reasons behind inappropriate behaviour with a focus on prevention, recognised internationally as making a real difference to keep people safer.

They added: “We have invested more than £20 million in violence prevention over the last decade, including over £4 million to the national No Knives, Better Lives programme and various preventative approaches with young people across Scotland through schools, stakeholders and local authorities.”

Incidents involving ‘offensive weapons’ in schools are recorded centrally through the Scottish Government’s annual recorded crime statistics.

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