FOI 43-2025 / Jan 2025 / Dog attacks
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 43-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 9th January 2025 as follows:
Since 2019 how many dog attacks have been reported each year, and if possible, broken down into breeds?
How many dog on human attacks have, to your knowledge, resulted in hospitalisations each year since 2019?
How many reports of XL bully attacks since 2019, and have you noticed a decrease since the 1st February 2024?
Which dog breed carried out the most attacks each year since 2019?
Response:
Please be advised that the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. There is no specific offence of ‘dog attack’. Notifiable Home Office offence code ‘8/21 – ‘Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in any place in England or Wales (whether or not a public place) injuring any person or assistance dog’, considers that a dog shall be regarded as dangerously out of control on any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person or assistance dog, whether or not it actually does so. Further, where such an offence is recorded, there is no way of readily identifying from the crime recording system, the breed or age of dog involved or whether a human was injured. In order to provide a response to the request it would be necessary to examine each and every 8/21 investigation on an individual basis, including any associated documents.
During the period 2019 to date there have been over 1400 such offences recorded. At a conservative estimate of 5 minutes per log to review, this would equate to in excess of 117 hours of work and would therefore exceed 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. For Police forces in the UK, the "appropriate limit" is considered to be up to 18 hours of work on one request.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please treat this letter as the Refusal Notice I am required to provide to you in respect of your request. Please note that if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit, then Section 12 applies to the whole request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be examined, I am unable to suggest a way to revise your request into one that could be managed within the fees limit.
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