People aged under 18 stopped and searched from April 2021 to March 2022 and April 2023 to March 2024

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.037846

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. In the financial years April 2021 to March 2024, how many people aged under the age of 18 were stopped and searched by the Metropolitan Police? Please breakdown by financial year.
2. Of that figure, how many resulted in an arrest? Please provide a breakdown by financial year.
3. In those same financial years, how many complaints were launched against Metropolitan Police officers after they conducted a stop and search on an individual? Please provide a breakdown by year and please note that we are looking for ALL complaints in this question, not just those made by under-18s.
4. Of those cases, how many resulted in disciplinary action, and, if the information is available, what was the average amount of time it took to resolve a complaint? Please provide a breakdown by financial year.

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 which is reasonably accessible by other means.

Reason for decision

I am pleased to inform you that the information requested is held and some of the information is already in the public domain.

I have provided a link below to the London Datastore which answers questions 1 and 2:

Q1 - In the financial years April 2021 to March 2024, how many people aged under the age of 18 were stopped and searched by the Metropolitan Police? Please breakdown by financial year.
Q2 - Of that figure, how many resulted in an arrest? Please provide a breakdown by financial year.

MPS Stop and Search Dashboard Data - London Datastore.

In providing this information to you by way of the above internet link, I claim the exemption set out by Section 21 - Information which is reasonably accessible by other means. This exemption is accordingly claimed in respect of the information requested that is already published. Where information is already in the public domain, we are not required to re-publish the data, instead, public authorities are required to direct you to the information, which we have done in this instance.

If the above link is broken upon receipt of this correspondence, please copy and paste it into your web browser.

Disclosure

Q3 - In those same financial years, how many complaints were launched against Metropolitan Police officers after they conducted a stop and search on an individual? Please provide a breakdown by year and please note that we are looking for ALL complaints in this question, not just those made by under-18s.
Q4 - Of those cases, how many resulted in disciplinary action, and, if the information is available, what was the average amount of time it took to resolve a complaint? Please provide a breakdown by financial year.

Please see the spreadsheet below for data for questions 3 and 4.