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SP16

Guidance on suspicious archery/crossbow purchasers

Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Home Office

Government responseHome Office: Accepted (Jul 2026)

DeliveryNo statement from Home Office found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The Home Office should provide clear guidance to all UK retailers of archery bows and crossbows on identifying and reporting suspicious behaviour, including underage purchasers or those who appear to be interested in criminal use of the equipment, and should consider placing retailers under defined obligations to report material suspicions.

Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In July 2026, HM Government accepted the recommendation, stating that the Home Office expects to complete implementation in early 2027 (Home Office response, Jul 2026). It explained that statutory guidance covering age verification for online crossbow sales and advice on reporting suspicious purchases will be introduced under the Crime and Policing Act 2026 following discussions with stakeholders and devolved administrations (Home Office response, Jul 2026). The record holds no update since the government's response of July 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026).

Sources

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Report-level response context

The government's response to Phase 1 (CP 1623, 2 July 2026) agreed with all 67 recommendations in one sentence, and names only 39 of them individually. Where a recommendation is not named, the response shown is the passage the response gives for the group it belongs to (the recommendations for organisations outside central government, or the recommendations to policing bodies), which is not a response to that recommendation alone; the response does not list the members of any group. The 10 recommendations for Phase 2 of the Inquiry to consider show no response: the response introduces them (paragraph 20) but answers none of them. The government accepts the recommendations that are for central government to deliver. Where a recommendation is for an organisation outside central government, the government's agreement is not that organisation's acceptance.

Government response

●Home Office · Accepted · 2 Jul 2026

Words of: HM Government, Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry (CP 1623), presented to Parliament by the Home Secretary, 2 July 2026

The Home Office is the lead department and expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation in early 2027. Progress and next steps:
- Statutory guidance on age verification measures for the online sale and delivery of crossbows in England and Wales will be introduced under the Crime and Policing Act 2026, to be implemented in early 2027.
- Guidance will include advice to retailers on sales of archery bows and arrows and advice on reporting suspicious sales or attempted sales.
- Detailed proposals will be discussed with stakeholders during preparation of the guidance.
- Guidance will be discussed with the devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Extract from: Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry

Delivery

No statement on delivery from Home Office has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.