2022/25288 - Missing People

REQUEST

 

We are carrying out research to better understand the impact of ethnicity on the risk of going missing. This is in light of the disproportionate representation of Black people in national missing statistics, and the possibility of increased risk amongst this community and for other people of colour.

The ethnicity categories in the tables have been chosen to reflect those used in national statistics provided in the UK Missing Persons Unit data report.

We are seeking data held in your force’s Case Management System.

 

1. How many people in your area went missing between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022? Please provide the numbers broken down by ethnicity and by age in the following table. In this question we are asking for the number of individuals, not total incidents/investigations:

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
0-11yrs
12-17yrs
18-25yrs
26-39yrs
40-59yrs
60+yrs
Unknown

 

2. How many total missing investigations were there between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022? Please provide the numbers broken down by ethnicity and by age in the following table:

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
0-11yrs
12-17yrs
18-25yrs
26-39yrs
40-59yrs
60+yrs
Unknown

 

3. Please provide a breakdown of the outcomes of missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / Unknown
Found by police
Returned of their own accord
Found by another professional
Other

 

4. Please provide a breakdown of the outcomes of missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / Unknown
Found by police
Returned of their own accord
Found by another professional
Other

 

5. How many missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity, had a:
6. Sexual Exploitation marker
7. Mental health marker
8. Criminal Exploitation marker
9. Trafficking marker

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Sexual exploitation marker
Mental health marker
Criminal exploitation marker
Trafficking marker

 

6. How many missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity, had a:
7. Sexual Exploitation marker
8. Mental health marker
9. Criminal Exploitation marker
10. Trafficking marker

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Sexual exploitation marker
Mental health marker
Criminal exploitation marker
Trafficking marker

 

7. Please provide the types of location from which the missing investigations for children were reported between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Home
Care
Hospital or healthcare setting
School or education setting
Other

 

8. Please provide the types of location from which the missing investigations for adults were reported between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Home
Care
Hospital or healthcare setting
Other

 

9. Please provide the number of missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 48 hours, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Number of incidents lasting more than 48 hours

 

10. Please provide the number of missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 48 hours, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Number of incidents lasting more than 48 hours

 

11. Please provide the number of missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 7 days, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Number of incidents lasting more than 7 days

 

12. Please provide the number of missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 7 days, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	White – North European	White – South European	Black	Asian	Chinese, Japanese & SE Asian	Middle Eastern	Other / unknown
Number of incidents lasting more than 7 days

 

 

RESPONSE

 

1. How many people in your area went missing between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022? Please provide the numbers broken down by ethnicity and by age in the following table. In this question we are asking for the number of individuals, not total incidents/investigations:

 

Please see the table below

 

Age Group	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Oriental	Arabic or North African
0-11 Yrs	81	21	0	3	0	0	0
12-17 Yrs	366	309	6	14	10	1	2
18-25 Yrs	87	63	3	2	1	0	1
26-39 Yrs	161	94	2	4	0	0	0
40-59 Yrs	127	70	1	2	0	0	0
60+ Yrs	61	23	0	1	0	0	0

 

 

2. How many total missing investigations were there between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022? Please provide the numbers broken down by ethnicity and by age in the following table:

 

Age Group	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Oriental	Arabic or North African
0-11 Yrs	111	85	0	6	0	0	0
12-17 Yrs	728	1639	47	74	64	2	3
18-25 Yrs	99	92	5	2	1	0	1
26-39 Yrs	178	127	2	4	0	0	0
40-59 Yrs	149	92	1	2	0	0	0
60+ Yrs	63	31	0	2	0	0	0

 

 

3. Please provide a breakdown of the outcomes of missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

There is no method available in which to filter incident data for children to show the outcome of whether they were Found by Police, returned of their own accord or Found by another professional.

 

Unfortunately, we cannot answer this part of the request as it will exceed the 18-hour time limit to complete a request. In time frame requested, there are 1516 records. In order to retrieve the data, each record would need to be reviewed. It would take approximately three minutes to review each individual record, which would equate to 75 hours of research. Therefore, a Section 12 Excess Cost exemption has been applied.

 

 

Section 12 – Excess Cost

 

The exemption applicable to the information you have requested for this question can be found at Section 12(1) of the Act and this refusal notice is issued under Section 17.

 

Section 12(1) “does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.” 

 

In the case of a police force, the appropriate limit is set at £450, which is calculated at £25 per hour (i.e., 18 hours). Gwent Police would have to conduct a manual search to find and extract the information for this question. This would take more than 18 hours of staff time therefore we are unable to answer this question and the exemption is engaged.

 

 

4. Please provide a breakdown of the outcomes of missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

There is no method available in which to filter incident data for adults to show the outcome of whether they were Found by Police, returned of their own accord or Found by another professional.

 

Unfortunately, we cannot answer this part of the request as it will exceed the 18-hour time limit to complete a request. In time frame requested, there are 1516 records. In order to retrieve the data, each record would need to be reviewed. It would take approximately three minutes to review each individual record, which would equate to 75 hours of research. Therefore, a Section 12 Excess Cost exemption has been applied.

 

Section 12 – Excess Cost

 

The exemption applicable to the information you have requested for this question can be found at Section 12(1) of the Act and this refusal notice is issued under Section 17.

 

Section 12(1) “does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.” 

 

In the case of a police force, the appropriate limit is set at £450, which is calculated at £25 per hour (i.e., 18 hours). Gwent Police would have to conduct a manual search to find and extract the information for this question. This would take more than 18 hours of staff time therefore we are unable to answer this question and the exemption is engaged.

 

 

5. How many missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity, had a:
6. Sexual Exploitation marker
7. Mental health marker
8. Criminal Exploitation marker
9. Trafficking marker

 

Marker	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Oriental	Arabic or North African
Sexual Exploitation	89	434	23	11	0	0	0
Mental Health	13	195	0	0	0	0	0

 

There is no method available in which to filter incident data to show Criminal Exploitation and Trafficking markers.

 

6. How many missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity, had a:
7. Sexual Exploitation marker
8. Mental health marker
9. Criminal Exploitation marker
10. Trafficking marker

 

Marker	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Oriental	Arabic or North African
Sexual Exploitation	2	21	2	0	0	0	1
Mental Health	36	168	3	7	0	0	0

 

There is no method available in which to filter incident data to show Criminal Exploitation and Trafficking markers.

 

7. Please provide the types of location from which the missing investigations for children were reported between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

Missing from	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Oriental	Arabic or North African
Unknown	101	66	1	5	2	1	1
Care	25	72	1	3	2	0	1
Home	257	157	4	8	5	0	0
School	64	35	0	1	1	0	0

 

 

8. Please provide the types of location from which the missing investigations for adults were reported between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, broken down by ethnicity.

 

Missing from	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Arabic or North African
Unknown	143	68	3	2	0	0
Care	11	16			1
Home	262	151	2	6		1
Hospital	20	15	1	1

 

 

 

 

9. Please provide the number of missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 48 hours, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Asian	Oriental	Arabic or North African
Number of incidents lasting more than 48 hours	107	130	4	7	4	1	2

 

 

10. Please provide the number of missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 48 hours, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	Unknown	White - North European	Dark European	Black	Arabic and North African
Number of incidents lasting more than 48 hours	195	144	3	9	1

 

 

11. Please provide the number of missing investigations for children between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 7 days, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	Unknown	White - North European	Asian	Arabic or North African
Number of incidents lasting more than 7 days	7	7	1	1

 

 

12. Please provide the number of missing investigations for adults between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 which lasted more than 7 days, broken down by ethnicity.

 

	Unknown	White - North European	Black	Arabic or North African
Number of incidents lasting more than 7 days	23	20	2	1