FOI 0149-2024/25- Sexual communications

Request:

Q1. Please tell me the number of recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sexual communication with a child, (Home Office recording code 71/17) recorded from (and including) April 1st 2023 until (and including) March 31st, 2024.

Q2. Where possible I would like to know the age and gender of the victim, broken down into age groups: 11 and under, 12-15, 16 and over.

Q3. Please tell me the age and gender of the youngest victim.

Q4. Please tell me all the forms of communication (i.e. which social media or messaging platform such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, TikTok etc.) that have been recorded as having been used in connection with recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sexual communication with a child, from (and including) April 1st 2023 , until (and including) March 31st 2024.

Response: 

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

In relation to section 15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 - the offence is committed where a person aged 18 or over intentionally communicates with a child under 16, who the adult does not reasonably believe to be 16 or over, if the communication is sexual or if it is intended to enourage the child to make communication which is sexual. The offence will be committed, whether or not the child communicates with the adult.

Q1. Please see the table below showing the total number of sexual grooming crimes (Home Office recording code 71/17) recorded between 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

Crime	Count
Sexual Grooming	52
Total	52

Q2. Please see the table below showing the total number of sexual grooming crimes (Home Office recording code 71/17) where there is a victim linked, recorded between 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, broken down by victim age group. I have disassociated the tables pursuant to section 40(2) – Personal Information. This is to refrain from particular incidents becoming identifiable and consequently the personal details of any persons involved being disclosed. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Victim Age Group	Count
11 and under	8
12-15	24
No Victim	20
Total	52

Please see the table below showing the total number of sexual grooming crimes (Home Office recording code 71/17) where there is a victim linked, recorded between 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, broken down by victim gender.

Victim Gender	Count
Female	23
Male	9
Not recorded	20
Total	52

Please note not all crimes have a victim recorded against it in this case, and, there may be some that have multiple victims linked.

Q3. I am exempting the specific ages and genders of these individuals pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please see the exemption explanation below.

Q4. Please see the table below showing the total number of sexual grooming crimes (Home Office recording code 71/17) where there is a victim linked, recorded between 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, a manual review of the MO remarks has been carried out to ascertain the platform used.

Platform	Count
Facebook	1
Instagram	1
Snapchat	12
TikTok	1
Whatsapp	5
Youtube	1
Discord	1
Online game	1
Not stated	12
Total	35

Please note,  a crime may have more than one victim linked and also the platform of which the crime has occurred is not mandatorily recorded, however where it is recorded I have included it in the above table. Where there has been more than one platform mentioned within the MO remarks, these have been recorded distinctly.

Exemption Explanation

Section 40 – Personal Information

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

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.