FOI 1282-2024/25 Child Sexual Exploitation

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? 

Extent of Searches to Locate Information
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision
I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to undertake a manual search of force systems, for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) related offences with two offenders recorded, over a period of twenty years, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). The requested information may be available from His Majesty’s Court and Tribunal service (HMCTS) so you may wish to re-direct your request accordingly. If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

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.