FOI 11997 and 11998

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NOs:  West Mercia Police 11997  and Warwickshire Police 11998

I write in connection with your requests for information which were received on 11^th June 2019.  Please find below the responses to your requests for West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police information:

1. How many children (under 18) were reported missing to police in:
2. a) 2017/18
3. b) 2018/19

2. How many of those reported missing in 2017/18 were 'looked after children'?

3. How many of those reported missing in 2018/19 were 'looked after children'?

4. In 2018/19 how much police time was spent on looked after children reported missing?

REPLY:

Please be advised that the information that you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. The information for question 4 regarding how much police time was spent on looked after children reported missing is not held centrally or in an electronically retrievable format because each missing report involving children in care would need to be manually reviewed.

There are in excess of 1980 records for West Mercia which would have to be reviewed in order for us to identify the relevant information for your request. Should it take approximately 2 minutes per record this would equate to in excess of 63 hours of work. There are in excess of 1053 records for Warwickshire which would have to be reviewed in order for us to identify the relevant information for your request. Should it take approximately 2 minutes per record this would equate to in excess of 35 hours of work. Therefore 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.

However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for questions 1 - 3 as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.

West Mercia Police 11997

1. a) 3270
2. b) 2790
3. 2015
4. 1980

Warwickshire Police 11998

1. a) 1824
2. b) 1740
3. 1516
4. 1053