FOI 394438
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 394438
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 12th March 2025 . Please find below the response to your request:
How much the force has spent on kennelling banned breeds or the XL Bully since the ban came
- Please provide a monthly breakdown of the costs since February 2024 up to and including February 2025.
How much more has the force spent on staffing the dog section of the force since the ban came in, and how many staff did this budget pay for.
Has the force received more funding for kennels/staffing the XL Bully Ban, or has this been redirected from other areas of policing.
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. We do not hold separate information for specific breeds, dangerous dogs costs also include vet’s fees. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each invoice would have to be checked individually.
In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.
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 some of the information requested 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
Please contact us again should you wish to submit a request for alternative/reduced information
Q How much the force has spent on kennelling banned breeds or the XL Bully since the ban came
- Please provide a monthly breakdown of the costs since February 2024 up to and including February 2025.
Caveat: The figures above are dangerous dogs’ costs this includes vet’s fees and kennelling. It is the cost of all seized dogs except those seized by local policing.
Q How much more has the force spent on staffing the dog section of the force since the ban came in, and how many staff did this budget pay for.
We have not recruited any additional staff to deal with the ban.
Q Has the force received more funding for kennels/staffing the XL Bully Ban,or has this been redirected from other areas of policing.
No additional funding received; the shortfall has been covered by redirecting budget from other force areas, but it’s impossible to say exactly which ones.