Call for weapons in schools figures to be made public

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has called for information on knife crime in schools to be made publicly available by councils following the death of Aberdeen pupil Bailey Gwynne in 2015.

Ms Davidson said there was “no meaningful picture of the extent of the problem in any area” because almost half of local authorities were unable to confirm how many weapons had been taken from pupils in their schools.

She raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood as new figures revealed that 254 children under 16 were referred to the children’s reporter last year for carrying knives and other weapons.

Following his death, the Scottish Government said councils would be required to develop their own policies for dealing with weapons in schools, while new guidance made clear that any incident must be monitored and recorded at a local level.

Ms Davidson said: “In fact in a large number of cases this information is not collated or in any way publicly accessible.

“In response to recent Freedom of Information requests, nearly half of Scottish councils were unable to confirm the number of weapons confiscated from pupils in their areas, because that information was not held centrally.”

Nicola Sturgeon agreed to look further into the issue.

Picture: PA. Ruth Davidson.