Child sexual abuse data for 2021/22
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.030138
I note you seek access to the following information:
I am writing to request access to information regarding the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the UK.
In the financial year 2021/22, please state, per offence code, how many of the following crimes were recorded by Metropolitan Police, and what was the outcome of each of those crimes:
FOI REF 30094
1. Rape (Home Office offence codes: 01907, 01908*, 01909, 01910*, 01911, 01912*, 01913, 01914*, 01916, 01917, 01918, 01919)
2. Sexual assault on a male (Home Office offence codes: 01711, 01712*, 01714, 01716)
3. Sexual assault on a female (Home Office offence codes: 02001, 02002*, 02004, 02006)
*These offence codes are used for people 16 or over. If possible, please report separately for victims under 18, and victims 18 and over.
FOI REF 30125
1. Buggery and attempted buggery (Home Office offence codes: 01612, 01613, 01614, 01615*, 01617, 01618, 01619, 01620*, 01623, 01624, 01625, 01626, 01627, 01628)
2. Indecency between males (Home Office offence codes: 01803, 01804, 01805, 01807, 01808, 01809*, 01810, 1811
*These offence codes are used for people 16 or over. If possible, please report separately for victims under 18, and victims 18 and over.
FOI REF 30126
Sexual activity (male and female) - including with a child under 13 (Home Office offence codes: 02101, 02102, 02103, 02104, 02105, 02106, 02107, 02108, 02109, 02110, 02111, 02112, 02113, 02114, 02115, 02116, 02117, 02118, 02119, 02120, 02121, 02122, 02123, 02124, 02125)
FOI REF 30127
Sexual activity (male and female) - including with a child under 16 (Home Office offence codes: 02206, 02207, 02208, 02209, 02210, 02211, 02212, 02213, 02214, 02215, 02216, 02217, 02218, 02219, 02220, 02221, 02222, 02223, 02224, 02225)
FOI REF 30138
Familial sexual offences (Incest) (Home Office offence codes: 02301, 02302, 02303, 02304, 02305, 02306, 02307, 02308, 02309, 02310, 02311, 02312*, 02313*, 02314, 02315, 02316, 02317, 02318, 02319, 02320, 02321, 02322, 02323, 02324, 02325, 02326, 02327, 02328, 02329, 02330, 02331, 02332, 02333, 02334, 02335, 02336, 02337)
* if offender ages have been recorded in the logs for these crimes, please report separately for Under 18, 18 and over, and Unknown.
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 - Personal Information
Reason for decision
Section 40 - Personal Information - Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 confirms that information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual is Personal Data.
The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.
The information sought under your Freedom of Information request includes the following which we consider to be Personal Data.
The number of crimes recorded by Metropolitan Police specific offence codes related to Sexual Offences, the outcome of each of those crimes for financial year 2021/22.
I have applied this exemption in that the data returned low figures in the Outcomes that could identify individuals.
If this occurs due to the information provided by the MPS, constitutes personal data, which would be in breach of the rights provided by the DPA.
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.
OTHER INFORMATION
With regards to FOI REF 30125
1. Buggery and attempted buggery (Home Office offence codes: 01612, 01613, 01614, 01615*, 01617, 01618, 01619, 01620*, 01623, 01624, 01625, 01626, 01627, 01628)
2. Indecency between males (Home Office offence codes: 01803, 01804, 01805, 01807, 01808, 01809*, 01810, 1811
*These offence codes are used for people 16 or over. If possible, please report separately for victims under 18, and victims 18 and over.
Please note that all of the above Home Office classifications are now redundant and no data was returned in the period stated.
Disclosure
To reduce the harm with disclosure, I have provided four spreadsheets that does not include the Outcomes for each offence. I have however provided a table with totals for each Outcome description.
Please find the attached four spreadsheets for Ref:
30126
30127
30138
30094