FOI RSO Manager Working Hours (346-2024/25)

Request

(A1) How many ""working hours"" have the department responsible for managing those those subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 spent doing so within the years 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019?

(A2) Of those ""working hours""how many were spent on managing those individuals classed as ""low risk"", and “no risk”, individuals specifically for all of the years mentioned?

(B1) What was the financial cost to the Police Force relating to managing individuals subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019?

(B2) What was the financial cost to the Police Force in managing both ""low risk"" and ""no risk"" individuals specifically for all of the years mentioned?

(C1) For the years 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 – how many applications were made by those subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for removal from indefinite notification requirements pursuant to Part 2, sections 88 and 91 of that act?

(C2) Of those applications, for all of the years mentioned, how many were successful vs how many were unsuccessful?

(C3) What was the breakdown of the risk level, for all of the years mentioned, of the offenders who were granted permission to have their notification requirements removed?

(D1) For the years 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 – how many individuals monitored by your police force, who are subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, reoffended within the period that they are subject to those notification requirements e.g. what is the recidivism rate?

(D2) Of the individuals that did reoffend whilst subject to notification requirements, what was their risk level prior to reoffending for all of the years mentioned?

(E1) What is the force’s classification of a “historical sex offence” e.g. conviction takes place two / five / ten / twenty / thirty years prior to conviction?

(E2) Of the individuals that reoffended in the years 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 whilst subject to notification requirements, how many had been convicted of crimes that would be classed as historical offences by your force?

(F1) How many individuals subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, that were classed as “low risk” / “no risk” by your force, AND had committed an offence that took place over ten years prior to their conviction, reoffended within the years 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019?

(1) What reasonable adjustments, if any, are provided, in relation to the management of offenders subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, to those suffering with a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010?

(2) For those with neurodiversity issues such as Autism, ADHD, or other mental health issues which could make it more difficult for an individual to either understand the notification requirements or manage their compliance with those notification requirements, what reasonable adjustments are made for them by your force?

Response

Extent of Searches to Locate Information

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

Under Section 5 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) regulations 2004, requests can be aggregated where (a) the two or more requests by one person relate, to any extent, to the same or similar information, and (b) those requests received by the public authority within any period of sixty consecutive working days.

As such, your requests made on 21 July 2024 – 346.2024-25 and 21 July 2024 – 347.2024-25, have been aggregated into one response.

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.

I have decided to list your questions individually to explain the issues we face retrieving the requested information.

A1 – any time worked beyond the FTE of an officer is not recorded in a way that can be extracted for the purposes of this request. In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review each officer’s working hours and cross reference that with any information held relating to each RSO managed, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

A2 - The time taken managing individual RSO’s is not recorded in a way that can be extracted for the purposes of this request. In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review each officer’s workload and cross reference that with any information held relating to each RSO managed, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

B2 - any costs incurred for managing low risk offenders, is not recorded in such a way that can be extracted for the purposes of this request.

D2 – this information is not recorded

E2 – this information is not recorded

F1 – this information is not recorded

1 & 2 – Each offender has a bespoke risk management plan which takes account of risk and any other issue including disabilities and/or mental health related matters. To determine what adjustments were made for each individual would require a manual review of all offenders, which would further exceed the time 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). However, we may be able to provide information for parts B1, C1, C2, C3 & E1.  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.