Sexual offences recorded against children from April 2017 to March 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025489

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. For the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022:

a) The number of recorded sexual offences against children aged under 18, broken down by offence along with the age and gender of victims (by individual year of age where possible or grouped into 0-5, 6-10, 11-15 and 16-17).

b) The number of above offences that had a cyber-flag attached.

2. For the periods 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, and 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 broken down by year:

a) The number of suspects charged for child sexual offences.
b) The number of cases referred to the CPS for child sexual abuse offences.

Please note, if this request exceeds the time and cost limit then please only supply a response to question 1.

Decision

Having located and considered the relevant information. I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some information has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Partial Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40 – Personal Information

Reason for decision

When a request is made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), a public authority must inform you, when permitted, whether the information requested is held. It must then communicate that information to you. If a public authority decides that it is cannot comply with all or part of a request, it must cite the appropriate section or exemption of the Act and provide you with a suitable explanation. It is important to note that the Act is designed to place information into the public domain, that is, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered public information and must be communicated to any individual should a request be received.

I have considered the information (question 1b above):

• The number of recorded sexual offences against children aged under 18 that had a cyber flag attached.

The above requests for information is exempt under Section 40(2)(3) - Personal information of the FOIA.

If the MPS disclosed the information requested, it would be possible for an individual(s) to be identified, due to the relatively low number of crime records, as specified within the scope of your request. It would be possible to use the specifics of this data to narrow down individuals. The risk of disclosure of personal information is heightened because you have asked for information for a relatively recent time period.

The definition of 'personal data' is far wider than simply the name or address of a living individual. 'Personal data' is defined in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, as data that relates to a living individual who can be identified from those data or from other information that is in the possession of, or likely to come into the possession of, the data controller.

Section 40(2)(3)&(4) - Personal Information - The information sought under your Freedom of Information request includes the following which we consider to be Personal Data:

• The number of recorded sexual offences against children aged under 18 that had a cyber flag attached.

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.

In order to apply the Section 40(2) exemption, the disclosure of the requested information must satisfy either the first, second or third conditions as defined by subsections 3A, 3B and 4A of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (as amended by Section 58 of the Data Protection Act 2018).

The first condition ensures that the exemption would apply in circumstances where the disclosure of the information would breach any of the Data Protection Act 2018 principles.

There are six Data Protection principles set out in the 2018 Act and these can be found at section 34.

In this instance I have decided that the disclosure of the Personal Data would be incompatible with the first Data Protection principle which states that the processing (in this case the disclosure) of the data must be both lawful and fair.

Disclosure

I have disclosed the following information in response to questions 1a and 2a above:

• Count of sexual offences against children broken-down by offences recorded between 01/04/2021 and 31/03/2022.
• Count of victims by age group recorded between 01/04/2021 and 31/03/2022.
• Count of victims by gender recorded between 01/04/2021 and 31/03/2022
• Count of people proceeded against who were charged for sexual offences against children by financial year and proceeding type between 01/04/2017 and 31/03/2022.

Please find attached a spreadsheet in which the above information has been provided.

IMPORTANT:
Please ensure that the note section within the spreadsheet is read in conjunction with the data in this report to ensure that it is interpreted correctly.

In response to question 2b above:

• The number of cases referred to the CPS for child sexual abuse offences.

Unfortunately, the information you have requested is not retrievable from MPS central searchable databases within cost. As the MPS does not hold the information you require centrally in a format that can be extracted to provide the information you have requested.

I therefore estimate that the cost of complying with this request would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for agencies outside central Government; this is set at £450.00. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours [at a rate of £25 per hour] in determining whether the MPS holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
Under Section 16 of the Act, there is a duty to advise and assist those making requests for information. In accordance with this duty, to assist you with your search for information, please contact the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) related to your request below:

• The number of cases referred to the CPS for child sexual abuse offences.

A link to request information from Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service: