Protection order applications 462/2022

FOI Reference: 462/2022

Request:

I am writing to request, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the following information:

• The number of restraining orders, non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection notices/orders that were issued/granted for domestic violent/abuse incidents including stalking and harassment, in each of the calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

 

• The number of breaches of restraining orders, non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection notices/orders for domestic violent/abuse incidents including stalking and harassment, in each of the calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

 

• The number of arrests, convictions and sentences for breaching restraining orders, non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection notices/orders for domestic violent/abuse incidents including stalking and harassment, in each of the calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

 

• The number of reported domestic violence incidents following breaches to restraining orders, non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection notices and orders for domestic violent/abuse including stalking and harassment, in each of the calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

 

• How many domestic homicides involved previous breaches of restraining orders, non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection notices and orders for domestic violent/abuse including stalking and harassment involving the same offender and complainant/victim?

Please give figures for each of the calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Please breakdown the number and type of breaches by domestic homicide case.

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 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 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 262.22 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located at www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm

The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in respect of question 1 of your request 1 in relation to restraining orders is not held in an easily retrievable format. Each restraining order for the time period requested would need to be reviewed to ascertain if the restraining order related to domestic violence/abuse incidents including stalking and harassment. It has been established that for the period covering (2017/18 – 2021/22) there are a total 1,167 restraining orders that would require researching/reviewing. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to research/review a single restraining order file for relevance to question 1 of your request as outlined above, resulting in the following broken down time estimate.

2017/18 = 260 restraining orders@ 5 mins per file = 21.67 hours

2018/19 = 251 restraining orders@ 5 mins per file = 20.92 hours

2019/20 = 296 restraining orders@ 5 mins per file = 24.67 hours

2020/21 = 160 restraining orders@ 5 mins per file = 13.33 hours

2021/22 = 200 restraining orders@ 5 mins per file = 16.67 hours

Total of 97.26 hours to complete task

Please note: In addition to the above time estimate, questions 3 and 4 would also exceed the 18 hour time limit as outlined below:

Question 3: In order to ascertain the number of convictions and sentences for breaching restraining orders etc would require researching a total of 660 records at 5 mins per record equating to 55 hours.

Question 4: In order to ascertain the number of reported domestic violence incidents following breaches to restraining orders etc would require researching a total of 660 records at 10 mins per record equating to 110 hours.

Total of 262.22 hours for the whole of the request

Please also note: A response to question 1 (non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection notices/orders only), question 2, question 3 (the number of arrests only) and question 4) can be provided within the 18 hour time limit. However, please 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 28/06/22)