Child knife victims increase 50% in three years

9.16.04am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 1st Jul 2008

Andrew Stunell discusses knife crime with a police officer

Commenting on new figures that show the numbers of children admitted to hospital with stab wounds in Greater Manchester rose 52% in only three years, Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell said:

"This is a shocking increase that shows the Government's strategy on knife crime is failing.

"The Government has repeatedly said that crime is falling, but these figures show serious attacks that require hospital admission are up.

"Teenagers don't feel safe on our streets, which is only fuelling the spiral of knife crime in this country.

"Instead of spending billions on unnecessary ID cards, the Government should spend the money on actually making people safer by putting more police on our streets."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. The information on the number of admissions to hospitals for knife and gunshot wounds was released by the Department of Health in a Parliamentary Question (210404) to Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb MP. The attached spreadsheet contains a full breakdown.

2. There were 1,715 admissions to hospital for knife wounds in Greater Manchester between 2002/3 and 2005/6, one in six of which are children under 18.

3. The increase in admissions across all age groups was 24.7%, 4.7% higher than the national average.

4. Admissions for under 18s increased by 51.8%.

5. For more information, please contact Zoë Horwich at horwichz@parliament.uk or 020 7219 5223.