FOI 27386

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: HRC0027386/26

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 25^th August 2026. Please find below the response to your request:

I am requesting information relating to reports of drink spiking made to your force.

Please provide the following information for each calendar year 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and separately for 2026 year-to-date (up to the most recent date for which data are available):

1. The total number of reports/allegations of drink spiking recorded by your force in each year.
2. Of those reports, the number where the recorded age of the alleged victim was between 18 and 21 inclusive(i.e. aged 18, 19, 20 or 21), broken down by year and the gender of those victims.
3. Of the reports involving victims aged 18–21, the number that resulted in a crime being recorded, broken down by year.
4. For all drink-spiking reports, the number that resulted in a crime being recorded, broken down by year.
5. For 2026 year-to-date, please provide the equivalent figures for the period from 1 January 2026 to the latest date for which data are available.

For clarity, by “drink spiking” I mean reports/allegations that a substance was deliberately added to a person's drink without their knowledge or consent. Please include cases recorded under any relevant crime, incident, intelligence or other recording system where your force has identified the allegation as drink spiking.

If your systems distinguish between drink spiking and other forms of spiking (for example, needle spiking, food spiking or spiking via another route), please provide the drink-spiking figures separately and do not include these other forms unless they were specifically recorded as involving a drink.

If the information is held in a form that distinguishes between an allegation/report and a formally recorded crime, please provide both figures where possible.

Please provide the information in a table, using the following columns where the data are available:

If any of the requested information is not held in exactly this format, please provide the closest equivalent information that is already held, rather than treating the request as requiring the creation of new data.

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 as we are unable to distinguish drink spiking from other forms of spiking. A keyword search was completed and returned over 900 records and therefore in order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.

In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.

Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed I am unable to identify information that could be supplied within the fees limit.