FOI 552/25

REQUEST

1. As of April 6, 2025, how many individuals are subject to signing the Sex Offenders Register ("subject to Notification Requirements") under the Sexual Offences Act in your force area?

2. Of these individuals, how many are subject to indefinite Notification Requirements?

3. Over the last three financial years (up until April 6, 2025), how many applications did the force receive from individuals to end an indefinite Notification Requirement?
4. Over the last three financial years (up until April 6, 2025), of the applications received to end an indefinite Notification Requirement, how many did the force approve?

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.

At South Wales Police we monitor and collate statistical data on crimes, incidents and other data relevant to our daily business. The predominant purpose of this is to identifying pattern and trends, so resource allocation and policies can be managed to ensure public safety. Unfortunately, the data you have requested for question 2 is not routinely collated in the format that would easily answer your query.

We consulted with our PPU (Public Protection Unit) who advised that for question 1 there are currently 2,109 subjects in the community subject to notification requirements. To retrieve the information requested for question 2 would involve manual interrogation of each of these 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 remove question two, we may be able to assist you with your request.