Child witnessing domestic incident 385/2022
FOI Reference: 385/2022
Request:
1. Please can you tell me the number of cases of domestic violence investigated by Dyfed Powys Police, where there where children and young people (0-18 years) present at the time of the incident, for the financial year 2019-2020.
2. Please can you tell me the number of children (0-18 years) recorded as witnesses to these domestic violence incidents for the same period (financial year 2019/2020) and break this down into age categories of the children.
3. Please can you tell me the number of domestic violence crimes that were recorded where children and young people (0-18 years) were present at the time of the crime, for the financial year 2019-2020.
4. Please can you tell me the number of children (0-18 years) recorded as witnesses to criminal domestic violence, when the crime took place (financial year 2019/2020) and break this down into age categories.
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 some 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 1,050 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located at www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm
The Freedom of Information Unit has been advised that the information requested in relation to your request regarding child witnesses to domestic violence in the financial year 2019 - 2020 is not held in an easily retrievable format and would exceed the appropriate time limit, i.e. 18 hours, to retrieve.
The relevant department has advised that witnesses of domestic violence cannot be filtered out and individual interrogation of each individual domestic record would be required to establish the information requested. For this time period, there are 6,300 records which would require review.
In order to do this, it is estimated it would take approximately 10 minutes to review each record, of which there are 6,300 for the financial year 2019 - 2020.
The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
6,300 records x 10 minutes = 1,050 hours
Therefore, total time estimate to complete request = 1.050 hours
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 me.
Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on the 23rd June 2022.