2022/25450 - Sex Offenders

REQUEST

 

I would be grateful if you would treat the following correspondence as a request for disclosure of the following information, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FoI").

 

Description of information sought:

 

• How many sex offenders did your force have registered living in the force area in each of the past three financial years?

 

• Of those sex offenders who were required to notify the police force of all foreign travel and their return to the UK, how many did inform your force of all foreign travel and their return to the UK and how many also failed to do so, in each of the past three financial years?

 

• How many sex offenders has your force recorded as having failed to return to the UK in each of the past three financial years?

 

• How many sex offenders have notified the force when they were living in a household with a child under the age of 18 and how many failed to do so, in each of the past three financial years?

 

• How many sex offenders have made a notification to your force that they have changed their identity through name change in each of the past three financial years and how many did the force discover retrospectively had changed their identity through name change without first informing the force in each of the past three financial years?

 

• How many offences have been committed by sex offenders within your police force area of failure to comply with the notification requirement in each of the past three financial years? 

 

• How many registered sex offenders failed to make annual contact with police stations within your police force area in each of the past three financial years (please provide the number of sex offenders failing to make annual contact and the number of failures for each financial year)?

 

• How long does it take for a registered sex offender to be classed as “missing” from your police force area?

 

• How many registered sex offenders went missing from your police force area in each of the past three financial years?

 

• Please provide these data in an .xlsx/.xls/.csv file format so I am capable to re-use them as per Section 11 of FoI.

 

 

FOLLOW-UP REQUEST

 

Would you be able to answer the following as a refined request for disclosure of the following information, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FoI") instead please? If you cannot provide these data for three financial years, could you do so for one financial year within cost limits?

 

Description of information sought:

 

• How many sex offenders did your force have registered living in the force area in each of the past three financial years?
• How many sex offenders have made a notification to your force that they have changed their identity through name change in each of the past three financial years and how many did the force discover retrospectively had changed their identity through name change without first informing the force in each of the past three financial years?
• How many offences have been committed by sex offenders within your police force area of failure to comply with the notification requirement in each of the past three financial years? 
• How long does it take for a registered sex offender to be classed as “missing” from your police force area?
• How many registered sex offenders went missing from your police force area in each of the past three financial years?
• Please provide these data in an .xlsx/.xls/.csv file format so I am capable to re-use them as per Section 11 of FoI.

 

If you need any clarification about my request, or if you cannot provide all of the data I have requested, please contact me to discuss what information you could supply at the earliest opportunity.

 

If I am mistaken and all of the information requested is already in the public domain, please direct me to where I can find it.

 

If it is not, and you feel you cannot provide all of this information, please provide what information you can in the spirit of Section 16 of FoI, to “provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the authority to do so, to persons who propose to make, or have made requests for information”.

 

 

RESPONSE

 

Unfortunately, we cannot answer this request as it will exceed the 18-hour time limit to complete a request.  To obtain an accurate figure we would have to look at the manual files held and cross reference with current nominals on ViSOR, which is 1045, this number includes in the community and those who are now currently in prison (including nominals which may have been in the community at the relevant year).  Also, any archived records and transferred records.

 

It is estimated that this piece of work can take in excess of 174 hours which is a conservative estimate as we have gifted each record a minimum of ten minutes, as it does not include archived and transferred records. . 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.

 

 

FOLLOW-UP RESPONSE

 

To obtain an accurate figure we would be required to retrieve  the manual files held and cross reference them with current nominals on ViSOR which is  a total of 1043 (current as of today).

 

The number includes those managed in the community and those in prison ( please note that those in prison  may have been in the community during the relevant year).

 

It is estimated that this piece of work can take in excess of  174 hours which is a conservative estimate as we have gifted each record a minimum of ten minutes.

 

We have not taken into account those records that have been archived or transferred as they would also be subject to a detailed check.

 

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.