Multiple requests re: sexual offences
FOI refs 11414 + 11415 + 11416 + 11417 + 11418
Dear Mr [REDACTED]
RE: Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request
Thank you for your five Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests which we received on 20 July 2023; the details of which appear below.
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) gives you the right to know whether we hold the information you want and to have it communicated to you, subject to any exemptions which may apply It is a public disclosure regime, not a private regime. This means that any information disclosed under FOIA, by definition, becomes available to the wider public.
You have made the following five requests for information:
FOI ref: 11414:
The total amount of individuals convicted in England and Wales, since records began, for non-consensual sexual activity, who was coaching, teaching, training, supervising or instructing, the victim, in a sport, on a regular basis, and that the victim was 16 or 17 years old at the time of the crime(s) taking place.
FOI ref: 11415:
The total amount of individuals convicted in England and Wales, since records began, for non-consensual sexual activity, who was coaching, teaching, training, supervising or instructing, the victim, in a religion, on a regular basis, and that the victim was 16 or 17 years old at the time of the crime(s) taking place.
FOI ref: 11416:
The total amount of individuals convicted in England and Wales, since records began, for forced virginity testing, attempted forced virginity testing or/and virginity testing.
FOI ref: 11417:
The total amount of individuals convicted in England and Wales, since records began, for forced hymenoplasty, attempted forced hymenoplasty or/and hymenoplasty.
FOI ref: 11418:
The total amount of individuals convicted in England and Wales, since records began, for forced female genital mutilation, attempted forced female genital mutilation or/and female genital mutilation.
Our Response
Section 12(1) of the FOI Act means public authorities are not obliged to comply with a request for information if it estimates the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit And Fees) Regulations 2004. The appropriate limit for central government is set at £600. This means that the appropriate limit will be exceeded if it would require more than 24 hours' work in determining whether the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
The nature of the information requested in these five requests has an overarching theme and common thread relating to very specific sexually-related offences. To identify and extract the information you have requested in each of your above requests would require a manual search of CPS cases at disproportionate cost.
For this reason we have aggregated the requests as we have considered them to relate to the same or similar information as set out in section five of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Please refer to the link below. We believe that the cost of responding to all five of these requests would exceed the appropriate limit. Consequently, the CPS is not obliged to comply with any of your requests in accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244/regulation/5/made
Please be advised that this cost limit will apply to any new requests that can be considered under the same theme as the current five. The cost limit will apply to similar requests received in 60 consecutive working days from 17 August 2023. The cost limit will therefore apply until 10 November 2023.
Requests received that are considered not to fall under the same theme as the current five requests will be dealt with as normal.
Under Section 16 of the FOI Act we have an obligation to advise what, if any, information may assist you with your request. You may wish to redirect your request for information to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), who hold outcomes by specific offence. Please click on the link below where you will find information on how to make a request for information from the MoJ at the bottom of the home page: Ministry of Justice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)