Authorised detentions of suspected adults (aged 18 or over) from January 2022 to March 2023

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031055

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would be grateful if you could provide the following information relating to the use of police custody by your police force.

For each of the individual 15 months from January 2022 to March 2023 inclusive:

1. The total number of authorised detentions of adult suspects (aged 18 or over) for that month; and

2. The total number of authorised detentions of adult suspects (aged 18 or over) in which the need for an appropriate adult (under PACE Code C) was recorded in that month.”

On the 24 July 2023, the MPS responded to your request for information. On the 25 July 2023, you wrote to the MPS and stated:

Having taken a look at the data disclosed, I believe that the data provided from NSPIS on appropriate adults is unlikely to be accurate - and that is significantly underestimates the performance of the MPS. I believe this for two reasons:

1. The data provided indicate that the need for AAs became 10x larger as soon as Connect was implemented

2. Previous responses from MPS (based on NSPIS data in other time periods) are more closely aligned with the values reported from Connect.

I would be grateful if you could please check the accuracy of the data, as I do not wish to misrepresent force performance.

I have looked to at previous requests/responses for the same data (in different periods) to see if the methodology was different (in case that was helpful).

In the response for the 2018/19 period - the need for an AA was recorded around 1,000 times per month (compared to around 150 per month in the new NSPIS data). The AA data was based on "Count of 'Appropriate Adult' recorded on Detentions Authorised as 'Third Party Type' between April 2018 and March 2019", with a note that the report shows that an Appropriate Adult was recorded in at least one of the authorised detentions for each Custody Record, however we are unable to indicate which detention period this pertains to. This is because NSPSIS does not record the period of detentions for Third Party Types (under which Appropriate Adult falls under) in a specific field.

In the response for the 2019-21 - the need was again recorded around 1,000 times per month. The AA data was described as "All adult detainees by unique custody record number where an appropriate adult was called or attended Apr 19 - Dec 21 (as recorded in the detention log). This report shows the number of unique custody records where the detainee was 18+ and the need for an appropriate adult was recorded in the detainee log."

Following receipt of your email, I asked for the data provided to you on the 24 July 2023 to be double-checked. This work has now been completed and has uncovered an error in the data provided to you. I apologise for this error and for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

I have disclosed the revised dataset to you.

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
Under Section 16 of the Act, there is a duty to advise and assist those that have made, or intend to make, a request for information. In accordance with this duty, I can confirm that the MPS publishes information about various types of crime on its website. I have provided a link to this information below.

MPS Website: Stats and Data

It may also assist you to note that the MPS proactively publishes all disclosures made in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on its Publication Scheme. I have provided a link to this section of the MPS website below.

MPS Publication Scheme

The MPS Publication Scheme can be searched using keywords and may accordingly hold other information that is of interest to you.