FOI 471/25

REQUEST

We are working towards an estimate of group-based contact child sexual exploitation. To do this we are counting the number of people who have been sentenced for such crimes that would fall into this category.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, would you be able to provide us with the number of cases in your area that have involved more than two people convicted of child sexual exploitation offences that have involved contact rather than just indecent images of children over the last 20 years? If possible can you provide these broken down by year?

Could you also provide names of significant operations in your area that have sought to bring people to justice for these types of crimes (equivalents of Stovewood, Bullfinch or Sanctuary in England) and any numbers for convictions secured from these investigations – again in the last 20 years?

Clarification: Yes, I would be happy to receive figures for charges instead of convictions.

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.

Our crime and incident recording system (Niche RMS) was implemented in 2007. Unfortunately, prior to this our records are not held in an easily retrievable format. To retrieve the information requested would involve a manual trawl of a large number of records.

Whilst I cannot quantify exactly how long this would take it would most certainly exceed the 18 hours stipulated by the regulations.

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 reduce the time frame of your request, we may be able to assist you with your request.

Please note South Wales Police do not hold data on convictions. Under S16 our duty to advise and assist you may wish to submit your request to CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) using the link provided below:

Freedom of Information | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)