Sexual Harm Prevention Orders 661/23

FOI Reference: 661/2023

 

Request:

 

• How many sexual harm prevention orders were granted on conviction between 2018 and 2022?
• How many were granted on a stand alone application by the chief constable between 2018 and 2022?
• How many sexual risk orders were granted between 2018 and 2022?

Please break down the results by year between men and women.

• Of the female subjects who were made subject to any of these orders how many were born male?

 

Response:

 

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

 

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:   (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

 

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.

 

Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit

 

Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”

 

The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 18.33 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm

 

The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of question 1 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to the gender part of question 1 of your request for the time frame stipulated would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and reviewing sexual harm prevention orders (SHPO’s) that were granted on conviction to establish the gender. It has been established that there are a total of 220 SHPO’s that were granted on conviction that cover the period of your request.  It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single SHPO’s in respect of your request (as outlined above).  The process outlined results in the below time estimate.

 

18/19 = 43 SHPOs at a minimum of 5 minutes each =  3.58 hours

19/20 = 50 SHPOs at a minimum of 5 minutes each =  4.17 hours

20/21 = 52 SHPOs at a minimum of 5 minutes each =  4.33 hours

21/22 = 42 SHPOs at a minimum of 5 minutes each =  3.50 hours

23/23 = 33 SHPOs at a minimum of 5 minutes each =  2.75 hours

 

Time estimate to complete task and request = 18.33 hours

 

Please note: A response to question 1 (without the gender) of your request has been outlined in the above time estimate.  Additionally, responses to the remainder of your request can be provided within the 18 hour time limit.

 

In accordance therefore with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the Whole of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact. You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.

 

                                                                                                                                               

 

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 31/07/23)