Surrender and Compensation Scheme: FOI release

Information requested

Copies of the following:

• The total amount of compensation paid out to individuals under the Surrender and Compensation Scheme.
• I would like the amount broken down per individual person and a brief description of what they were paid for (i.e. gravity knife, knuckleduster etc).

Response

The weapons covered by the scheme have been banned from being sold, imported and manufactured in Scotland since at least 2005 (and in many cases, for much longer). As such, it is not thought there are many such weapons in Scotland.

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested in the format you asked for.

1. The total amount of compensation paid out to individuals under the Scottish Government's surrender and compensation scheme was £553.

Please note, the compensation paid for each weapon is based on the list value published on the Scottish Government's website (Weapons list - mygov.scot) unless an independent evaluation of the item was provided by the claimant and accepted by the Scottish Government.

2. There were 4 successful claims in total.

• The compensation paid for claim 1 totalled £233 with 15 weapons being surrendered. That is, 6 flick knives (£120), 1 gravity knife (£40), 1 knuckleduster (£2), 2 Swordsticks (£24), 1 Balisong (aka Butterfly knife) (£9), 1 Telescopic truncheon (£20), 1 Disguised knife (£5), 1 Stealth knife (£3) and 1 Straight, Side handled or Friction lock truncheon (sometimes known as a Baton) (£10).
• The compensation paid for claim 2 totalled £40 with 2 weapons being surrendered. That is, 1 flick knife (£20) and 1 Telescopic truncheon (£20).
• The compensation for claim 3 totalled £35 with 1 weapon being surrendered. That is, one zombie knife (£35). This value was greater than the £10 published list value for such a weapon due to an independent evaluation of the weapon being provided by the claimant and this evaluation being accepted by the Scottish Government.
• The compensation for claim 4 totalled £245 with 19 weapons being surrendered. That is, 4 flick knives (£80), 1 gravity knife (£40), 6 zombie knives (£60), 1 buckle belt knife (£5), 1 push dagger (£2), 2 Shuriken (aka Shaken or Death star) (£10), 2 Balisong (aka Butterfly knives) (£18), 1 Telescopic truncheon (£20) and 1 Straight, Side handled or Friction lock truncheon (sometimes known as a Baton) (£10).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.