FOI 5018
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: HRC0005018/26
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 4th May 2026. Please find below the response to your request:
This is a request for information according to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
It relates to crimes committed against abortion and reproductive healthcare facilities. Please note there is one part to my request.
(1)In the time period 1 January 2021 up to 1 May 2026, how many reports of (a) criminal damage and arson [offence codes 56A, 56B, 57, 58D];
(b) threat to commit criminal damage [offence codes 59.4];
(c) criminal or malicious damage offences [offence code 149];
(d) harassment;
(f) breach of a safe access zone according to Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 (England/Wales);
(g) any other criminal offence [please specify]
where the location of the reported offence was an abortion clinic or reproductive healthcare clinic.
Please provide the data per crime, per calendar year. Please provide the outcome of each report, e.g. No further action; caution; charge.
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. Whilst there is a location type field on our crime management system it is not mandatory, not routinely used and there is no specific one for Abortion Clinics or Reproductive Clinics. A search for crimes where the crime location includes one or both of the words Abortion, reproductive, has returned zero results. Searches for any crimes which have the keywords “Abortion Clinic” or “Reproduction Clinic” within the incident summary, has returned minimal results which upon a manual review none of these offences actually took place at one of the locations, they are simply referred to in the incident summary. Therefore, to accurately respond and ascertain whether the information you have requested is held, a search of all crimes would have to be completed which would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.
However, in accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request. You may wish to refine and resubmit your request to receive part of the information. For example, we may be able to supply the information, subject to any exemptions being engaged, if you provide us with a list of locations or names for us to search.