Data on ritual and ritualistic abuse from 2014 to 2023

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.034764

I note you seek access to the following information:

Time frame: the last 10 years
Number of flag PV to show ritual and ritualistic abuse.
Please provide the class major and class method.

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)(3)&(4) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

Section 40 (2)(3) - Personal information - When this exemption is applied, it is accepted that harm would result from disclosure. There is accordingly no requirement to consider whether release of information is in the public interest or demonstrate what harm would result from disclosure.

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. I have applied this exemption in that the data returned low figures that could identify individuals within the class method. I have also decided to provide class major totals from 2014 – 2023.

Class method provides specific details of the investigation that includes description of the offences, names of suspects, victims, witnesses and crime reference numbers. The specific descriptions could identify living 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.

Disclosure

To reduce the harm with disclosure, I have provided data by class major category totals from 2014 - 2023.