FOI 16058

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: HRC0016058/26

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 24^th June 2026.  Please find below the response to your request:

Please provide the following information for all years your digital records cover, up to and including 2025:

The number of dog‑related incidents where the victim was aged 0–11.

Of those, how many occurred in a domestic setting (home, private garden, or other private residential property)

Where recorded, the breed/type of dog involved.

Where recorded, the relationship between the dog and the child (family dog, neighbour’s dog, friend/visitor’s dog, or stranger’s dog

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 detailed information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format.  There are over 771 records.  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.

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 below 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

To ensure the Force remains compliant with GDPR and MoPI regulations, certain MoPI 3 level data is automatically deleted from Force systems after a period of 6 years.  As a result the data within this FOI will only date back 6 years to reduce confusion and the misinterpretation of data as records prior to 6 years will potentially not be complete or accurate