Sexual harassment and assaults reported in pharmacies and chemists from November 2020 to October 2023

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.033821

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please may you provide me with:

1. The total number of incidents of sexual harassment and assault reported at premises registered as a ‘pharmacy’ (which may be termed as ‘chemist’ in location codes) between 1 November 2022 and 31 October 2023.

2. The total number of incidents of sexual harassment and assault reported at premises registered as a ‘pharmacy’ (which may be termed as ‘chemist’ in location codes) between 1 November 2021 and 31 October 2022.

3. The total number of incidents of sexual harassment and assault reported at premises registered as a ‘pharmacy’ (which may be termed as ‘chemist’ in location codes) between 1 November 2020 and 31 October 2021.

4. A breakdown of the number of incidents described in points 1,2 and 3 by:

a. The category of sexual offence the reported sexual offence falls under. I have included a list of offences in the template reply which I have linked to within this email.

b. The number of cases proceeded against in relation to these incidents, and the type of proceeding and outcome that took place.
I have included a list of outcomes within the template reply which I have linked to within this email.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request. If it is necessary to shorten by request to fit it within the limit, please remove my queries in reverse chronological order (Ie: Start by removing question 3 and answering questions 1 and 2 including sections a and b, and then if still over the limit just answer question 1 with sections a and b).

Clarification - I wrote to you by email and stated:
“Sexual harassment is unlawful, as a form of discrimination, under the Equality Act 2010, however there is not a specific offence of sexual harassment. 

MPS website - Sexual harassment

Answer Required
Can you confirm whether, in making your request, you seek access to all forms of sexual offence recorded at Chemists over the requested periods please? If I have misunderstood your request, can you set out the information you expect to receive please?

It may also assist you to note that the MPS has published similar figures on its website. I have provided links to this information below.

MPS Website - Crimes committed at/around pharmacy premises in 2021

MPS Website - Crimes committed at pharmacies in 2019 and 2020
https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/d/march-2022/crimes-committed-pharmacies-2019-2020/”

Clarification - you responded to my email and stated:
“I can confirm that I would like "all forms of sexual offence recorded at Chemists over the requested periods" please.”

Decision

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

Section 40(2)&(3A)(a) - Personal Information

Reason for decision

I have refused to provide the category of sexual offence recorded and the outcome of each offence under the following provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act):

Section 40(2)&(3A)(a) - Personal Information - Section 40(2)(a)(b) of the Act provides that any information to which a request for information relates, is exempt information if the first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied. The first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) states that personal information is exempt if its disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles.

There are six principles that are set out in Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that dictate when the processing of personal data is lawful. The first principle requires that any processing of personal data must be lawful, fair and transparent. Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:

a. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
b. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
c. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.

Having given regard to the legitimate interest test, I have found that:

a. This request seeks access to the category of sexual offence recorded where the location was a chemist and the outcome of each offence. The public release of this information would satisfy a legitimate interest, being to provide information about sexual offences recorded at chemists in the MPS district (i.e. the areas policed by the MPS) across 3 distinct reporting periods.

b. The disclosure of this information is necessary to meet the legitimate interest identified at point an above.

c. The MPS recorded 2 sexual offences at chemists in each of the requested reporting periods. Sexual offences at chemists are accordingly infrequently recorded by the MPS. It is probable that these offences will be known to persons that are unconnected to them. It is equally likely that these persons will be unaware of the specific circumstances of each offence and/or the outcome of each police investigation.

The public release of the offence category and/or the outcome of each police investigation into each offence would accordingly, given the small number of offences and the unique nature of the offence location, provide information that could be linked to identifiable persons. Releasing information that could be linked to an identifiable suspect in a criminal offence under the Act would constitute releasing personal criminal offence data. The Information Commissioner (the ombudsman for the Act) guidance on the release of personal criminal offence data under the Act states:

“Due to its sensitivity, the conditions for processing criminal offence data are very restrictive and generally concern specific, stated purposes. Consequently, only two are relevant to allow you to lawfully disclose under FOIA or the EIR. They are similar to those identified above for special category data. These are:

• consent from the data subject; or
• the processing relates to personal data which has clearly been made public by the individual concerned.

If a relevant condition cannot be met, you must not disclose the information as disclosure would be unlawful and therefore in contravention of principle (a).”

The conditions required to release personal criminal offence data are not present in this case. The release of the requested personal data does not accordingly satisfy a legitimate interest and cannot be disclosed under the Act.

Having considered the provision of victim data in an identifiable way under the Act, I have found that release would be unexpected and potentially distressing to the parties involved in these offences/investigations. In this regard, I believe that the disclosure of this personal data would be likely to cause unwarranted harm to the data subjects of this request. For the reasons set out above, I have refused to provide the offence category and outcome of each police investigation, in response to your request for information.

Disclosure

Please find below a spreadsheet in which the number of sexual offences recorded at chemists from the 1 November 2020 to the 31 October 2023 has been provided.

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

Additionally the MPS publishes all disclosures made in response to requests made under the Act on its website. I have provided a link to this information below.

MPS Publication Scheme

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