FOI Sexual Offences (0079.2022-23)

Request

1. 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 2021 until (and including) March 31st, 2022.
2. 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.
3. Please tell me the age and gender of the youngest victim.
4. Please tell me all the forms of communication (eg. 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 2021 , until (and including) March 31st 2022.

Response

1. 46 Engage in Sexual Communication with a child Crimes were recorded between 01 April 2021 and 31 March 2022.

 

2. Please see below Engage in Sexual Communication with a child Crimes by victim age and gender between 01 April 2021 and 31 March 2022.

 

Engage in Sexual Communication with a child Crimes by victim age and gender  (01.04.2021-31.03.2022)
Age Range	Female	Male	Total
11 and Under	4	1	5
12 - 15	21	4	25
Not Recorded	1	0	1
Total	26	5	31

 

3. Given the short time frame and nature of the request I am exempting question 3 pursuant to section 40(2) – Personal Information. This is to ensure the anonymity of the victim involved. 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. Please see the exemption explanation below.

 

4. Please find below the forms of communication, where recorded. Please note this information has been retrieved from MO Remarks included by the officer on the file.

 

Forms of Communication

Badoo

Discord

FabGuys

In person

Instagram

Kik

Not stated

Online (not stated)

Play Station 4

Roblox

Snapchat

WhatsApp

Total

 

Exemption Explanation

 

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 – Personal Information

Section 40(2)(b) 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 Data Protection Principle (that of ‘fairness’.)

This exemption applies because the right given under the 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 this instance it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such cases, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

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.