The Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill is the largest piece of legislation introduced by the Scottish Government. Ahead of its Stage 3 proceedings, Kenny MacAskill made the following statement:

"There is strong support for our proposals outside Parliament among those on the frontline who are successfully combating crime day in day out in Scotland, punishing offenders, and championing the interests of victims. I hope that this will be reflected among the MSPs inside Parliament.

"We have an all time record number of police officers on Scotland's streets - over 1,000 extra since March 2007 - making our communities safer with recorded crime currently at its lowest level for nearly 30 years and we want that to continue.

"We want to ensure that our law enforcement agencies have every available tool in their armoury to take the fight to criminals, tackle crime in Scotland's communities, and make Scotland a safer and stronger place for hard working families to live and work in.

"From taking the fight to the Mr Bigs of organised crime, to strengthening the law on stalking, to improvements to Scotland's DNA retention system and greater police powers, we are seeking to introduce key reforms, reforms which will help further protect Scotland's communities.

"Mandatory sentences for knife carrying are not supported by leading police officers such as the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, Stephen House, the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders, David Strang, and the head of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit Detective, Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, who have all spoken out against the proposals.

"The Scottish Government is taking tough action on those who carry and use knives, doing more than ever before as well as delivering a record number of police officers to catch them which is why crimes of handling an offensive weapon have decreased by 11 per cent since 2006-07.

"Courts have the powers to impose sentences of four years for carrying a knife, we've seen jail terms for knife carrying increase by two thirds in the last two years, while I've made clear that those who use a knife should expect to go to jail.

"We are also working to change the culture around violence in Scotland by working directly with young people to explain the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife.

"On community sentences, prison will always be the right place for serious and violence offenders. But for low level offenders, short sentences do not work. Three quarters of those sentenced to a short sentence go onto reoffend within two years of getting out, while three out of five of those given a community based punishment do not. The evidence in favour of our proposals is overwhelming and it is backed by the experts. Scotland has a chance here to break the cycle of reoffending, lower crime rates and make our communities even safer and stronger."