Have your say on the Offensive Weapons Bill
28 June 2018 (updated on 28 June 2018)
Do you have relevant expertise and experience or a special interest in the Offensive Weapons Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament?
If so, you can submit your views in writing to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this Bill.
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The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration. The Committee is expected to meet for the first time on Tuesday 17 July 2018; it will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage, which is expected to be not later than 5.00pm on Thursday 13 September 2018. However, please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 13 September 2018.* |
* In the last Parliamentary Session, the following Public Bill Committees concluded their consideration of the Bill earlier than scheduled: Criminal Finances, Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts), Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs), Neighbourhood Planning, Savings (Government Contributions), Technical and Further Education, Commonwealth Development Corporation, Children & Social Work, National Citizen Service, and Bus Services.
Aims of the Bill
The Bill covers three types of weapon – acid, knives and offensive weapons, and firearms – and is the Government’s legislative response to a Home Office consultation that ran between October and December 2017.
The key changes that the Bill would make are as follows:
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a new offence of possessing a corrosive substance in a public place;
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a new offence of selling certain harmful corrosive products to under18s;
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new restrictions on online sales of bladed articles and corrosive products, including restrictions on deliveries to residential premises;
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a new offence of possessing certain offensive weapons (the weapons concerned are already subject to restrictions on their sale, manufacture and importation); and
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reclassifying certain firearms as “prohibited weapons” under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968.
The Offensive Weapons Bill 2017-19 was introduced on 20 June 2018. Accompanying Explanatory Notes and an Impact Assessment have also been published.
The Bill’s territorial extent is complex, as the Bill covers a mixture of reserved and devolved policy matters. Annex A to the Explanatory Notes provides a useful clause-by-clause analysis of the Bill’s territorial extent, and whether a legislative consent motion will be required.
Follow the progress of the Offensive Weapons Bill
The Offensive Weapons Bill 2017-19 (HC Bill 232) was published on 20 June 2018. The Second reading of the Bill in the House of Commons was held on Wednesday 27 June 2018.
This Bill has now been committed to a Public Bill Committee and is expected to hold its oral evidence sessions on Tuesday 17 and Thursday 19 July 2018. The Public Bill Committee must conclude by Thursday 13 September 2018.
Guidance on submitting written evidence
Deadline for written evidence submissions
The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration and possibly reflect it in an amendment. The order in which amendments are taken in Committee will be available in due course under Selection of Amendments on the Bill documents pages. Once the Committee has dealt with an amendment it will not revisit it.
The Committee is expected to meet for the first time on Tuesday 17 July 2018; it will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage on Thursday 13 September 2018. Please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 13 September 2018.