Part 2: Prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime Chapter 2: Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews Section 24: Duty to arrange a review
This Section places a duty on "relevant review partners" to conduct offensive weapons homicide reviews in certain circumstances.
	Subsection (1) provides for a review to be arranged by the relevant review partners in certain cases. Review partners are defined in section 25(2) as a chief officer of police for a police area in England and Wales; a local authority in England and Wales, a clinical commissioning group (in relation to England); or a local health board (in relation to Wales). Section 25 makes provision about relevant review partners.
	A review must be arranged if a death was, or is likely to have been, a qualifying homicide (defined by subsection (6)); the death occurred, or is likely to have occurred, in England and Wales; such other conditions as the Secretary of State may specify in regulations (for example, the circumstances of or relating to the death); and the review partners are the relevant review partners in respect of the death.
	Subsection (6) defines a qualifying homicide as being where the person who died was aged 18 or over, and the death, or the events surrounding the death, involved the use of an offensive weapon, as defined by subsection (8). Homicide is not defined for the purposes of this Chapter, and the reference to that term is not limited to cases where an offence has been committed, for example, a case where a person is attacked by another with a knife, but also covers cases where an offence may not have been committed, for example, where an individual while acting in self defence, kills their attacker using an offensive weapon. By referencing ‘the events surrounding’ the homicide, an offensive weapon homicide review could be conducted if an offensive weapon was involved in the homicide, though may not have been the decisive factor in the death; for example, if a victim was stabbed with a knife, but subsequently died from being strangled.
	Conditions which may be specified in regulations under subsection (1)(c) may include conditions relating to the circumstances of or relating to the death, the circumstances or history of the victim or of other persons. Such conditions would be intended to provide that reviews are only conducted in cases where lessons might be learned from any institutional or local points of failure, or where a review might assist in understanding the local or national threat from serious violence.
	Subsections (2) to (5) provide that the duty to arrange an offensive weapons homicide review does not apply where the death may be subject to an existing review, as set out in section 26, or where an offensive weapons homicide review has already been started or taken place; and that the duty to arrange an offensive weapons homicide review ceases to apply if, on further information a review partner considers the conditions in subsection (1) are no longer satisfied; however subsection (4) provides that where a review has already started it cannot be discontinued if further information indicates a change in which review partners are the relevant review partners.
	Subsection (7) enables the Secretary of State, by regulations, to amend the definition of a qualifying homicide, and to make such consequential amendments to this Chapter as appear appropriate to reflect any alteration in the definition of a qualifying homicide. This power would allow homicides that do not involve offensive weapons to be included in future.