WEST MERCIA PCC: DISCLOSURE LOG
RESPONSE TO REQUEST
Reference: 2022 – 275 / WE5436
Date of response: 3rd March 2022
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – INFORMATION REQUEST
Request
1) Why is there such a low level of prosecutions? (Less than 10% of the alleged perpetrators have been convicted, what is the explanation for this?)
2) What number of CSE have been reported to the police over the last 40 years? (The Police are on public record that these type of offences have been carried out for 40 years, therefore records are held)
Please provide data, on the number of victims, number of prosecutions, and number of no
prosecutions.
3) There is an alleged specific case where a child was raped, impregnated, DNA was available from the foetus that identified the perpertrator. Yet no action has been taken, by the police. Please investigate and explain why the child rapist was not prosecuted?
4) There is currently an enquiry about child grooming, yet there is no intention with the enquiry to bring further prosecutions. Why is this?
5) Why are persons with knowledge about events surrounding the rape of children, being allowed to not give evidence to the enquiry.
6) Why where the victims of grooming give evidence to the enquiry, their information and details are then passed onto the alleged perpetrators?
7) Could you please confirm whether you have confidence in the CSE enquiry, and if not what you are going to do about it?
8) Why are you allowing members of the Police force “take the knee” to alleged criminal gangs, who then go on to insult members of your police force on social media. Please explain this? (Under equality legislation all groups should be treated equally and fairly, for members of the police to be taking the knee, does not conform to UK equality legislation).
9) There are serious allegations of fraud against a member/ former member of West Mercia Police force. Why is the Police force not willing to engage with a investigatory journalist, who has information to share with the Police. Could these allegations, if true be linked to the low levels of prosecutions of child rape?
10) Please provide an update or link to the actions and lead that your office is taking in these matters around CSE.
Response
Please see the below response to your request.
Your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is refused.
It is exempt from disclosure under Section 12 (cost limit). This is due to the time that would be required to manually scrutinise a very large number of OPCC case files and documents to establish whether information is held in the first place. In accordance with s17(5) of the FOIA, this acts as a refusal notice.
The following information is disclosed to you by the OPCC by choice, outside of the terms of the FOIA in the interests of openness and transparency. Please note, this disclosure sets no precedent around future voluntary disclosures.
A number of your requests are directed at operational policing matters. These must be addressed directly to West Mercia Police, who are a separate organisation to the Office of the PCC. Information on the action being taken by the PCC regarding CSE is published regularly via a number of platforms, including on our website: www.westmercia-pcc.gov.uk
Section 16 of the FOIA also requires us to provide assistance and advice to you regarding your requests. In our email of 10th February 2022 we attempted to clarify with you that your FOI request could not realistically be fulfilled in the way it was presented, as the information you were seeking related to disclosures of personal opinions, information not held by the OPCC, or other organisations / processes over which the OPCC has no lawful jurisdiction.
We invited you to amend your request in order to enable us to ensure your request could feasibly be dealt with under the parameters of the FOIA. Your amended requests do not achieve that. I would suggest further engagement with an organisation would be beneficial in understanding what sort of information is held and what is accessible, to ensure future requests do not have to be refused. You may also wish to refine the wording and narrow the scope of your requests to ensure time limits associated with FOIs are not triggered by your requests.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write to the Information Compliance Unit; Information Compliance Unit, PO Box 55, Worcester, WR3 8SP. Email: [email protected]
Yours sincerely,
FOI Officer
West Mercia PCC
Complaints
If you think that the Police and Crime Commissioner has failed to supply information in accordance with the publication scheme, then you should write in the first instance, to the:
Chief Executive, OPCC – West Mercia, Hindlip Hall, Worcester. WR3 8SP
The PCC will aim to deal with your complaint within 10 working days. If you are dissatisfied with the response you can ask for the matter to be internally reviewed. Internal reviews will be completed promptly and a response given to you within 20 working days of your further request.
If, after the internal review, you remain dissatisfied, then you can complain to the Information Commissioner (Office of the Information Commissioner), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF).
