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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-733-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 8th August 2023 as follows:
Please can you inform me of the number of:
your police force has carried out in enforcing the Vagrancy Act of 1824, each broken down by ethnicity, over the last five calendar years (2018-2022). Please provide this in a spreadsheet if possible.
On 8th August we requested the following clarification from you:
Before being in a position to progress with your request we will need some further clarification from you.
- It is not clear what E) Custody/ custodies refers to please could you clarify.
- Please note that Fixed Penalty Notices are not issued in relation to offences under the Vagrancy Act 1824 and conviction data falls within the remit of, and is held by, HM Courts and you may wish to contact them in this regard.
- As it stands, from the list provided from A to E, we would be able to look at A) Arrests and D) Charges in relation to offences under the Vagrancy Act should you wish to revise your request.
On 6th September you providing the following clarification:
Please can you provide me with parts A and D, that is arrests and charges in relation to offences under the Vagrancy Act.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have cause you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: I can advise that the requested information is held; however, not all of the information is suitable for disclosure in the format requested. Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Warwickshire 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 exemption applicable in this case is:
Section 40(2) Personal Information
Section 40 is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require evidence of the harm disclosure would cause and does not require consideration of a public interest test. That being said, where Section 40(2) is engaged, in order to make the exemption absolute there needs to be evidence that a Data Protection Principle would be breached by disclosure.
This exemption is engaged where disclosure of information relates to personal data of a third party or could lead to the identification of an individual, either from that information alone or combined with any other information from within the Police Service or public domain. In this case, due to low numbers of arrests per year, particularly in relation to 2022, providing the outcome of the arrest by year is likely to provide information in relation to an individual. Such a disclosure would breach individuals’ rights under the Data Protection Act 2018, in particular Article 5(1) of the GDPR which states that personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.
This letter serves as a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act in relation to arrest outcome information being provided by year. Instead this has been provided across the period 2018 to 2022, broken down by ethnicity.
When reviewing the information please note that the outcome information is based on the outcome of the arrests made under the Vagrancy Act, during the stated periods. However, it should be noted that figures do not therefore include any charges under the Vagrancy Act (which could possibly added later in an investigation and at the point of charge) where an individual was not originally arrested for this type of offence.
Arrests by Year and Ethnicity |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Total |
White British |
4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
Not stated |
8 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
|
22 |
Grand Total |
12 |
5 |
9 |
6 |
1 |
33 |
Outcomes of those arrests (2018 to 2022) by Ethnicity |
Total |
Adult Caution |
1 |
Ethnicity - Not stated |
1 |
Charge |
22 |
Ethnicity - White British |
8 |
Ethnicity - Not stated |
14 |
Refused Charge (NFA) / Released Without Charge |
10 |
Ethnicity - White British |
3 |
Ethnicity - Not stated |
7 |
Grand Total |
33 |
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB