Parents must be held to account if their children are caught with guns or knives in school, MPs have warned.

Figures released last week revealed that eight guns and 16 knives had been found on pupils at Bradford Council-run schools in the last academic year.

The figures included one gun and six knives being seized from children at primary schools.

Ilkley Conservative MP Kris Hopkins described the situation as unacceptable and urged parents to take more responsibility for their children’s behaviour.

“Teachers and children have the absolute right to feel safe and be safe in the classroom but, as these figures highlight so graphically, this is often not the case,” he said.

“It is essential for children to be brought up in a home which encourages good behaviour and makes clear the difference between right and wrong.

“This is the sole responsibility of parents, who must be held accountable for their failures.”

Menston and Burley-in-Wharfedale Conservative MP Philip Davies said: “It is important that schools are given every support when they exclude pupils for behaviour which is totally unacceptable. I also believe that the parents of young children should be held far more accountable for their children”

Councillor Imran Hussain, Bradford Council’s executive for safer communities, said: “In serious cases there are referrals to other agencies and, if there is a need, to the criminal justice process.

“There is some parental responsibility, we need to see why these young people are carrying such offensive weapons.”

Slightly more than 2,600 children were given permanent or fixed term exclusions from Council schools in 2012-13.

Other reasons included attacks on teachers, arson, theft and sexual misconduct.