FOI 553/25

REQUEST

1.The number of offences of out-of-control dogs causing injury to a person in the last three years (Between April 6th and April 5th 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25). Broken down by year, number of offences, breed of dog, severity of injury and police outcome. 

2. The number of dogs seized in the last three years - Broken down by year, by breed and by reason for seizure.

2a) The number of dogs destroyed in the last three years - broken down by year, by breed and reason for destruction. 

RESPONSE

Your request for information has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply the information you have requested.       

In relation to your request, the following exemption applies:

Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit.

A search has been conducted on our crime and incident recording system (Niche RMS) using the following Home Office code within the requested time frame;

• 8N/8/21- Owner / person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control in any place in England and Wales injuring any person or assistance dog.

This search retrieved 1967 results.

We estimate that it would take approximately two to three minutes to interrogate each occurrence to identify the breed of the dog and the severity of injury.

We therefore estimate it would take in excess of 82 hours to retrieve this information.

It is estimated that the cost of providing you with the information is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the "appropriate level" as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

In the case of the police service, the appropriate limit is £450 which has been calculated to equate to a total of 18 hours of work.

If any part of the request exceeds the fees limit then Section 12 applies to the whole request.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a refusal notice.

Excess cost removes the forces obligation under the Freedom of Information Act, however under Section 16 – Duty to provide advice and assistance, an authority is required to offer an applicant the opportunity to redefine their request within the cost limit. If you were to remove the breed of dog and severity of injury from question 1, we may be able to assist with the request.