Domestic abuse incidents 448/2024

FOI Reference: 448/2024

Request:

1. Of the reported domestic abuse incidents between 2019-2024 how many of the victims were pregnant?

Please give a yearly breakdown.

2. Of those reported incidents how many of those resulted in the perpetrator being charged with an offence?

Please give a yearly breakdown and if within cost limits a breakdown of offence types.

Of these, what was the gender, and if possible, age and geographic makeup of the suspected perpetrators?

3. If you do not currently keep such statistics on domestic violence in pregnancy, what is the reason for this?

Response 1:

I can confirm that there is information held by Dyfed-Powys Police which is outlined below.

Response 2:

I can confirm that there is information held by Dyfed-Powys Police which is outlined below.

Response 3:

Question 3 does not appear to be valid request for Information under the terms of the legislation. It is framed in a conditional context, as in “what is the reason”, which is a general question. And as you may know, s84 of FOIA relates to recorded information held by a public authority and that it does not extend to providing explanations unless the answers are already held in a recorded form. 

"Information is defined in section 84 of the Act as 'information recorded in any form'. The Act therefore only extends to requests for recorded information. It does not require public authorities to answer questions generally; only if they already hold the answers in recorded form. The Act does not extend to requests for information about policies or their implementation, or the merits or demerits of any proposal or action - unless, of course, the answer to any such request is already held in recorded form." (Day vs ICO & DWP – EA/2006/0069 Final Decision).

The request does not constitute a valid request under section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act, therefore for the reasons outlined; the request cannot be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Section 8 of the Act provides:

(1) In this Act any reference to a "request for information" is a reference to such a request which-

(a) is in writing,

(b) states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence, and

(c) describes the information requested.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a request is to be treated as made in writing where the text of the request-

(a) is transmitted by electronic means,

(b) is received in legible form, and

(c) is capable of being used for subsequent reference.

A request under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) is required by statute to describe the information requested, in terms of recorded information held by Dyfed-Powys Police, as defined by Section 8(1)(c).

The Freedom of Information Act provides the right of access to recorded information only. It does not require a public authority to answer direct or hypothetical questions or provide comment or opinion, unless recorded information exists which could itself answer such questions.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (2000) this response represents a Refusal Notice for this part of your request under Section 8(1)(c) of the Act.

______________________________

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 and disclosed on the 31/05/2024