Female victims of domestic or sexual abuse from January 2023 to January 2024

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035380

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please provide the following information for the last available 12 months’ data in relation to:
a. All female victims of domestic abuse
b. All female victims of sexual offences

If you are unable to provide data for all female victims, please provide the data for:
a. All victims of domestic abuse
b. All victims of sexual offences The information sought is:

1. In what proportion of cases is the victim’s ethnicity recorded on the police electronic system?
2. What is the ethnic breakdown of those victims for whom ethnicity is recorded?
3. What is the ethnic breakdown of the population in your force area?
4. Please provide a copy of the last publication of information by your force to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the force’s specific duties under Regulation 4, Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017

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 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means

Reason for decision

The purpose of the section 21 exemption is to ensure that there is no right of access to information via FOIA if it is available to the applicant by another route. To claim this exemption the data must be reasonably accessible.

Disclosure

Q1 - In what proportion of cases is the victim’s ethnicity recorded on the police electronic system?
Q2 - What is the ethnic breakdown of those victims for whom ethnicity is recorded?

Below is an excel spreadsheet with the answers to questions 1 and 2. Please note there are three separate tabs within the spreadsheet, titled cover sheet, notes and table. The notes page should be read in conjunction with the data to ensure the report is interpreted correctly.

Q3 - What is the ethnic breakdown of the population in your force area?

The MPS do not hold this data. It may be worth looking at the London Datastore, which is an open data-sharing portal where you can access data relating to the capital. Please see the link below:
MOPAC - Demography – London Datastore

Q4 - Please provide a copy of the last publication of information by your force to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the force’s specific duties under Regulation 4, Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017

Please find below a link to the last publication as requested (STRIDE – please see the link below) however, please note our NMfL Plan (please see the link below) acknowledges that this has not been good enough, and we have learnt through the Baroness Casey Report (2023) and Angiolini Inquiry (2024) that we must do more and not only better demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty, but do better for our Communities of London and for our own diverse workforce. We have been working hard to address this and will be launching a new Culture, Diversity & Inclusion vision, strategy and Directorate next month. May will also see the launch of the new London Race Action Plan which will demonstrate key commitments and improvements to be made.

The information you seek can be accessed via the following link:
A New Met for London.pdf

In supplying these link in response to your request I have claimed a Section 21 exemption of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The information requested has been identified as being accessible via other means.