FOI Weapons on School Grounds (0672-2024/25)

Request
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information for the past three academic years (Sept 2021-Aug 2022, Sept 2022-Aug 2023 and Sept 2023 - Aug 2024): 

1. The number of reported incidents of each of the following offences:

a. Threaten with an offensive weapon on school premises           
b. Possession of offensive weapon on school premises without lawful authority or reasonable excuse
c. Having an article with a blade or point on school premises
d. Threaten with a blade or sharply pointed article on school premises

2. In each case, please could you give details of the type of weapon, the type of school premises involved (primary or secondary), details of who it was in possession of the weapon (for example their age, if they are a staff member or pupil), and the outcome of the offence (where known).

Extent of Searches to Locate Information
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision
I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary not only to undertake a manual search of each record to determine the number of ‘threats’ made but a manual search of over 250 records categorised as ‘Weapon unknown’, to determine the type of weapon which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). If you wish to revise your request, I may be able to provide the number of crimes of ‘Possession of a Weapon’ to include ‘Possession of Article with Blade or Point’, ‘Possession of Other Weapons’ and ‘Possession of Firearms with No Intent’.  If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.