FOI 0030-2025/26 Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme

Request
This is a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as Clare's Law).

Please provide the following data from 2014 up until the most current date available, broken down by calendar year.

If data as early as 2014 is not available, please provide it from the first available date onwards. 

Q1. All applications under the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.

Q2. "Right to know" applications under the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. 

Q3. The number of disclosures made after a "right to know" application.

Q4. "Right to ask" applications under the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.

Q5. The number of disclosures made after a right to ask application.

Q6. The number of disclosures made within 28 days of a "Right to ask" application.

Q7. The number of disclosures made after 28 days of a "Right to ask" application. 

Q8. The longest time it took for a "right to ask" disclosure to be provided.

If possible, please could I have the information requested in CSV or other machine-readable format. 

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 some of the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

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

Q1. Given statutory changes over time and time limit changes, we have provided data from April 2023.

Please note the following which provides some context to the above data:

• Many Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS)  requests are now made via the SOH portal which provides an additional application method for people who do not want to speak with someone and/or wait on the 101 non-emergency line. However, on occasions some information may be omitted from the application which can result in a delay in processing an application.
• There may be a delay in arranging appointments to suit the individual needs of the applicant.
• Complex cases may exceed the 28 days due to the requirement for additional expertise. In these circumstances, we ensure all application contacts are recorded on Police systems and advice and signposting is provided throughout the process.
• The RTK cases include those generated from internal colleagues, domestic abuse incidents, Intelligence, Prisons, MAPPA etc. Many of these result in non-engagement or persons at risk declining the disclosure. We have mechanisms in place to risk assess, call a MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference) to establish agencies working with the person at risk. We consider notifying  the person at risk that a disclosure is ready and waiting or we add a flag to ensure any encounter we have will trigger an opportunity to make disclosure.
• *This data represents cases involving victims who refused disclosure initially and then a disclosure was made at a later date. Changes have now been made to the process to ensure that the disclosure is closed and re-opened if required.
• At the time of writing, the above figures include disclosures allocated out to disclose that have not yet been finalised and which may meet 28 day deadline.

North Yorkshire Police have noted your preference in receiving this information in a machine readable format however, it is our responsibility to protect the personal data and other sensitive information which may be contained within our data sheets. As you may be aware, data sheets may contain hidden information which may contain personal or sensitive information that, if exposed, could result in a data breach. It is for this reason we have decided to provide you with the requested information in an alternative format.

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.