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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 884-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 25th September 2023 as follows:
How many reports of the crimes listed below have been recorded by your police force that have taken place at schools in your area in each calendar year since 2017 inclusive. For 2023, please provide totals up to today (25 September, 2023).
For the purposes of this request, please provided totals for the schools listed in the Wikipedia links in the body of this request.
For the purposes of the Act, please treat this as a separate request to the similar FOIA email I sent earlier this month. Please cancel that FOI Request.
Crimes:
Locations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_schools_in_Warwickshire
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: I can advise that the requested information is held; however, it is not considered 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, providing the information broken down by specific school is likely to identify an individual and provide information in relation to an individual. Further, due to extremely low numbers for some offences, providing the number of offences by year is likely to lead to the identification of 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 information being provided broken down by school and also by year for some offences. Instead, where offences total 5 or less, or where there is only a single offence in any specific year, the figure has been provided across all years.
Please note that, due to changes in systems, it is not possible to retrieve annual information prior to 2018; therefore, information provided is from 1st October 2018 to 25th September 2023.
Offence |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total |
Assault of a female child under 13 by penetration |
3 |
3 |
|||||
Assault of a male child under 13 by penetration |
4 |
4 |
|||||
Assault on a female by penetration |
6 |
6 |
|||||
Assault on a male by penetration |
2 |
2 |
|||||
Attempted - Sexual assault on a female |
1 |
1 |
|||||
Attempted rape of a female aged under 16 |
1 |
1 |
|||||
Rape of a female aged 16 or over |
3 |
3 |
|||||
Rape of a female aged under 16 |
7 |
7 |
|||||
Rape of a female child under 13 |
4 |
4 |
|||||
Rape of a male aged under 16 |
1 |
1 |
|||||
Rape of a male child under 13 |
6 |
6 |
|||||
Sexual assault of a female child under 13 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
28 |
Sexual assault on a female |
11 |
7 |
15 |
14 |
29 |
13 |
89 |
Sexual assault on a male |
20 |
20 |
|||||
Sexual assault on a male child under 13 |
10 |
10 |
|||||
Grand Total |
22 |
22 |
30 |
29 |
55 |
27 |
185 |
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