Ninth Delegated Legislation Committee

1 juillet 2026

The Chair formally opens the Delegated Legislation Committee, reads the title of the draft Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2026, and calls the minister to move the motion establishing the committee’s remit.

Ninth Delegated Legislation Committee

00:00 - 00:13

Intervenant 1

I now read the title of the order. Draft Criminal Justice Act 1988 Offensive Weapons Amendment England and Wales Order 2026. I call the minister to move the motion. Minister Sarah Jones.

00:13 - 02:27

Intervenant 5

Thank you, Mr. McShots. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon. I beg to move that the committee has considered the draft Criminal Justice Act 1988 Offensive Weapons Amendment England and Wales Order 2026. The order before us today seeks to amend the definition of ninja sword in the list of prohibited offensive weapons by amending the definition contained in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 Offensive Weapons Order 1988. I'll briefly set out the context.

The existing legislation which bans ninja swords followed from a manifesto commitment to respond to tireless campaigning by the family of Ronan Kanda, who was just 16 when he was fatally stabbed by a person using a ninja sword in 2022. In 2024, the government ran a public consultation on the proposed definition of a ninja sword in order to ban these weapons and in line with our aim to halve knife crime within a decade. The consultation sought views from the public and interested stakeholders on a draft definition of a ninja sword. Ninja swords are defined as a bladed article with a blade between 14 inches and 24 inches in length with one straight cutting edge and a tanto style point. This length was chosen in order to exclude knives and tools designed for legitimate purposes, such as many kitchen knives and other types of knives.

In order to be within scope of the ban, the article should also have the features specified in paragraph 1U of the description set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 Offensive Weapons Order 1988, namely, a primary cutting edge, a secondary cutting edge, and a blunt spine with either a tanto style point or a reverse tanto style point. These terms are further defined in the detail of the legislation. Following analysis of the consultation responses, we introduced legislation and ninja swords became prohibited from the 1st of August 2025. The government recently became aware that the wording of the legislation doesn't correctly describe the length of the secondary straight cutting edge of a ninja sword as intended. The order before the committee today therefore seeks to rectify that and align the legislation with the original intention.

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