FOI 1187-2025/26- Prostitution offences

Request:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025:

Q1. The number of recorded offences and/or arrests relating to: a) Soliciting for the purposes of prostitution, b) Keeping or managing a brothel, c) Controlling prostitution for gain, d) Paying for sexual services. Please break this down by year.

Q2. Of the individuals identified in relation to soliciting prostitution offences, how many were recorded as: a) Potential victims of human trafficking or modern slavery, b) Vulnerable adults, c) Referred to safeguarding services. Please break this down by year.

Q3. The number of recorded crimes where the victim was identified as a sex worker, broken down by offence type (e.g. sexual assault, rape, robbery, assault). Please break this down by year.

Q4. The number of investigations relating to controlling prostitution for gain that resulted in: a) Charges b) No further action                                                                                                                                                                  Q5. Where possible, could you also identify the top five streets and areas where arrests have been made in relation to soliciting sex work?

Please provide all the data broken down by year and, where possible, in spreadsheet format.

Response: 

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

The below crimes where identified by searching all relevant Home Office classification codes:

• 167/01 Soliciting for the purpose of prostitution
• 24/19 Keeping a brothel used for prostitution
• 24/18 Controlling prostitution for gain
• 167/02 Engaging in exploitative conduct to induce or encourage a person to provide sex services for another after payment promised
• 71/02 Paying for the sexual services of a child - female child under 13
• 71/03 Paying for the sexual services of a child - male child under 13
• 71/04 Paying for the sexual services of a child - female child under 16 - no penetration
• 71/05 Paying for the sexual services of a child - male child under 16 - no penetration
• 71/06 Paying for the sexual services of a child - female child under 18
• 71/07 Paying for the sexual services of a child - male child under 18
• 71/14 Paying for the sexual services of a child - female child under 16
• 71/15 Paying for the sexual services of a child - male child under 16

Q1. Please see the table below showing the number of prostitution-related crimes recorded between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2026. I am exempting the yearly breakdown pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please see the exemption explanation below.

Q2. N/A

Q3. Please see the table below showing crimes recorded where the victim was identified as a sex worker between 01 January 2023 and 31 December 2025., broken down by crime type.  I am exempting the yearly breakdown pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please see the exemption explanation below.

Q4.N/A

Q5. N/A

Further to the above North Yorkshire Police can neither confirm nor denies whether any other information is held, by virtue of the following exemption Section 23(5) Information Supplied by or Concerning, Certain Security Bodies. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Section 23 is an absolute exemption which means that legislators have identified that harm would be caused by any release, including a confirmation or denial that information is held. In addition, there is no requirement to consider the public interest test.

No inference can be drawn from this refusal that information is or isn’t held.

Exemption Explanation

Section 40 – Personal Information

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

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.