Weapons seized in schools 41/2024

FOI Reference: 041/2024

Request:

• Can you reveal the number of weapons seized in schools in the following years: 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
• Can you also detail the incidents in 2023?
• What was the most common weapon found in each year?

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 20.07 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 your request for the time period of 13/05/23 – 31/12/23 is not held in an easily retrievable format as we are currently in the process of implementing a new recording system and at this point in time we are unable to breakdown the information to the level that is required to answer your request within the 18 hour time frame. Therefore, in order to establish what information is held in relation to the request for the period covering 13/05/23 – 31/12/23 would require the individual interrogation of all possession of weapon offences to ascertain if it relates to taking place within a school. It has been established that for the period as outlined i.e. 13/05/23 – 31/12/23 there are a total of 172 possession of weapon offences that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 7 minutes to research a single offence for relevance to your request as outlined above, resulting in the following time estimate.

13/05/23 – 31/12/23 =  possession of weapon offences at 7 mins per offence = 20.07 hours

Time estimate to complete task and request = 20.07 hours

Please note: In addition the above time estimate information covering the time period of 01/01/18 – 12/05/23 is retrievable within the 18 hour time frame and has been provided below as a gesture of goodwill outside of the FOI act.

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.

Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided information, relative to your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below for the period covering 01/01/18 – 12/05/23. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.

Question 1:

Year	Number of weapons seized in schools
2018	10
2019	10
2020	2
2021	1
2022	1
2023 (up to 12/05/2023)	0

Question 2:

• No incidents in 2023 (up to 12/05/2023)

Question 3:

Year	Most common weapons seized
2018	Knife
2019	Knife
2020	Knife
2021	Knife
2022	Knife
2023 (up to 12/05/2023)	N/A based on the figure of 0 provided for question 1

                                                                                                                                              

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 07/02/24)