FOI Dog Attacks (0374-2022/23)

Request

Under the Freedom of Information, please could you provide me with the number of reports of dog attacks (i.e. owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in any place in England and Wales (whether or not in a public place) injuring any person or assistance dog).

Please can you provide the number of reported incidents in January to July 2020, the number in January to July 2021, and the number in January to July 2022. Please can you provide a breakdown of the figure for each time period by recorded outcomes (e.g. number of Charge/Summons, Community Resolution etc).

Where possible, for each incident can you provide information about the age of the victim in the report (in 10 year age groups), the breed of dog involved, whether a seizure of the dog was made (under the Dangerous Dogs Act), and whether, subsequently, the dog was destroyed.

Response

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. North Yorkshire Police computerised recording systems rely on several “searchable fields” within records to generate data. In some instances, the data fields do not necessarily match the data which is being sought. This is the case for this request. To retrieve the requested information pertaining to dog breeds it would be necessary to manually inspect over 600 individual records to determine whether the dog breed-type is recorded and collate that information, 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 were to resubmit or refine your request, omitting the requirement for the breed-type data, we should be able to furnish the remainder of the information you require.  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.