Non-fatal Strangulation 769/23
FOI Reference: 769/2023
Request:
I am writing to request data under the FOI Act. Specifically, I would like to know how many offences have been recorded under the new non-fatal strangulation offence (s75A Serious Crime Act 2015 (as amended by Domestic Abuse Act 2021), since it was introduced in June 2022. Please provide the following information:
- How many crimes of non-fatal strangulation (s75A Serious Crime Act 2015) have you recorded between 7 June 2022 and 14 August 2023?
- Please provide a breakdown of victims and offenders/suspects for non-live by:
- Sex/gender (how many female victims, how many male victims, how many unknown and same for offenders/suspects)
- Age group for victims and suspects (16-24, 25-39, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, 90+)
- Ethnicity of victims and suspects (using usual HO categories or whatever you use to organise ethnicity)
- Relationship between victim and suspects (spouse/partner, acquaintance, friend, neighbour, other family member, stranger, relationship not known).
- Breakdown of case outcomes: for non-live cases, how many arrests, charges, prosecutions and convictions.
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.
I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to question 2d of this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
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. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to question 2d 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 62.67 hours) to comply with 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 2d of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format between the dates of 01/06/22 to 15/05/23. In order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to this question of the request would require the individual interrogation of all crimes relating to non fatal strangulation over the time frame specified to ascertain if the relationship between the offender and the victim has been recorded. It has been established that there are a total of 376 crimes relating to non fatal strangulation that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research a single crime record for relevance to question 2d of your request as outlined above, resulting in the following broken down time estimate.
01/05/22 – 15/05/23 = 376 crime records at 10 minutes per crime = 62.67 hours
Total of 62.67 hours to complete task and the whole of the request.
Please note: A response to question 1, 2a, b, c and 3 (in part) can be provided within the 18 hour time limit for the time period 01/06/22 – 15/05/23. In respect of question 3, outcome data (of the crime) i.e. charge, summons etc can be provided within the 18 hour limit, however, at this point we are unable to confirm if convicted data would be retrievable within the 18 hours as this would depend on the number of charges and summons outcomes that would need to be reviewed to confirm the number that were convicted. This process has not be undertaken as the request has already exceeded the 18 hour time limit for question 2d.
In addition to the above and due to a change in the systems that are used to record data for the period covering 15/05/23 – 11/08/23 a response to questions 1 – 4 may be retrievable within the 18 hours. However, as the request already exceeds the 18 hour time limit this has not been undertaken. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
In accordance 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.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 12/09/23)