Sexual assaults at hospitals 770/23
FOI Reference: 770/2023
Request:
1. How many reports have been made to SWP of sexual assaults which are alleged to have taken place at Dyfed Powys Police area hospitals since January 1st 2019 to the current date?
2. How many at 1. were recorded as a crime?
3. How many reports have been made to SWP of rape which are alleged to have taken place at NDyfed Powys Police area hospitals since January 1st 2019?
4. How many at 3. were recorded as a crime?
5. How many of the above points 1-4 were reported to have taken place on a hospital ward?
6. How many people have been charged with sexual assault/rape re.1-4 above?
7. What was the sex of the victims?
8. What was the sex of the suspected offenders?
9. Please confirm if you record on the basis of Sex, or self identified gender
Clarification Q:
You mention SWP which we read as South Wales Police. Do you wish for Dyfed-Powys Police to provide a response to this request?
If so, please confirm
Are you referring to incidents or crimes? Please note an incident is different from a crime. An incident is a record of contact made to a police force by an individual/member of public (usually via a 999 or 101 call) and a crime is where the threshold has been met for the police force to deem that a criminal offence has occurred as defined by law.
Clarification A:
I can clarify that I seek the information in respect of Dyfed Powys police specifically in this case.
I note that you seek clarification regarding incidents or crimes. I have specified in my request that I seek all reports (all incidents reported in respect of some questions. I have also then asked how many of these were formally recorded as crimes.
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 981 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 Questions 1 & 3 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 your request for the time frame stipulated would involve Dyfed-Powys Police accessing and manually reviewing all sexual reports to ascertain if the incident occurred within a hospital.
It has been established that there are a total of 5887 crime records that cover the period of your request. It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single report in respect of your request (as outlined above). The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
01/01/2019 – 31/08/2023 = 5887 reports x 10 minutes = 981 hours
Time estimate to complete task = 981 hours
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 questions 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 of your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. 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.
|
Q2 & 4 |
|
|
Rape |
10 |
|
Sexual Assault |
53 |
|
Grand Total |
63 |
|
Q5. Occurred on a ward |
|||
|
N |
Y |
Grand Total |
|
|
Rape |
1 |
9 |
10 |
|
Sexual Assault |
12 |
41 |
53 |
|
Grand Total |
13 |
50 |
63 |
|
Q6. Charged/Summons |
||
|
1c Summons |
|
|
|
Rape |
0 |
|
|
Sexual Assault |
3 |
|
|
Grand Total |
3 |
|
|
Q7. Victim Sex |
|||
|
F |
M |
Grand Total |
|
|
Rape |
4 |
6 |
10 |
|
Sexual Assault |
45 |
8 |
53 |
|
Grand Total |
49 |
14 |
63 |
|
Q8. Suspect/Offender Sex |
||||
|
F |
M |
Unknown |
Grand Total |
|
|
Rape |
5 |
5 |
10 |
|
|
Sexual Assault |
8 |
32 |
13 |
53 |
|
Grand Total |
8 |
37 |
18 |
63 |
Q9. Self-identified.
It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.
Furthermore, it should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 28/03/24)