Almost 700 incidents of knives in school in past five years

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned that efforts to tackle youth knife possession are failing to make progress as he revealed that the police have recorded almost 700 crimes of possessing an article with a blade or point over the last five years.

Former youth worker Mr Cole-Hamilton filed a series of written parliamentary questions asking for an update on what the Scottish Government is doing to tackle youth anti social violence and antisocial behaviour. 

In response to a question asking how many incidents involving possession of a knife or bladed article have been recorded in schools in each of the last five years, Minister for Victims and Community Safety Kirsten Oswald revealed that there have been 679 such crimes recorded from 2021-22 to 2025-26, with numbers steady at around 130 cases per year.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“These shocking figures show that the number of knives being found in our schools is stubbornly high. This comes fast on the heels of a number of shocking cases of young people being killed by knives.

“No pupil or teacher should have to worry that someone else in class could be armed. I am concerned that the SNP’s efforts to tackle youth knife possession are falling short.

“For the best part of twenty years, I was a youth worker, helping some of the most disengaged young people get their lives back on track.

“That experience taught me that no child is inherently bad. Most of the time, they are just in need of some direction.

“That’s where youth work comes in: it provides young people with the direction they need and gives them a positive adult role model who is neither a teacher nor a parent.

“It teaches teenagers to come out of their comfort zone, helps them rebuild their sense of self-worth and fosters a whole host of key life skills.

“Since the pandemic, however, the SNP have presided over the quiet death of youth work. Budgets have been squeezed, services have struggled to survive, just when we need them the most.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats would invest in youth work to pre-empt and prevent those acts of violence, to properly engage young people in society and lay the foundations for them to succeed in life.”