Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

Dear Ms Dunckley,

Freedom of Information Enquiry Ref : 2009/8012

I acknowledge receipt of your query received by this office on 25 February 2009 requesting information concerning

1) How many dogs have been seized by Gwent police under Section One
of the Dangerous Dogs Act in each year from 2000 to 2008?

2) How many prosecutions under Section One and Section Three of the
Dangerous Dogs Act did the Gwent police proceed with in 2007 and
2008?

3)How many dogs have been seized under Section One of the Dangerous
Dogs Act so far this year (2009)? Of those seized, how many have
been signed over for destruction by their owners?

4) How many applications have been made to the magistrates court
under section 4b of the Dangerous Dogs Act in the last three years?
Of those 4b applications, how many resulted in destruction orders
and how many resulted in registration onto the Index of Exempted
Dogs?

5) How many dogs are currently held under Section One and Section
Three of the Dangerous Dogs Act?

6) What number of dogs seized under Section One of the Dangerous
Dogs Act over the last three years, have been destroyed or have
died whilst in police custody, due to illness, injury or disease?

As set out by the Freedom of Information Act it will be our aim to respond to your request by 25 March 2009. In some cases, however, we may be unable to achieve this deadline. If this occurs we will advise you of the likely timescale within which the response will be provided.

Some requests may also require transference to another Authority in order to answer the query. Again you will be contacted if this is required.

If you have any questions regarding your request please contact me.
Yours sincerely,

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Dear Amanda

I am writing to let you know that unfortunately we anticipate a slight delay in responding to your freedom of Information request. We are still awaiting data due to annual leave taken. I apologise for this delay and can assure you we will endeavour to get a response out to you as soon as possible,

Kind regards

Freya

Dylan Collins
Freedom of Information Officer
Gwent Police

01495 745366

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Dear Mr. Dunckley,

Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which was received in this office on the 25th February 2009.

May I first of all apologise for the delay in responding to your request. This information was a little more difficult to extract than we first thought.

The information that you are seeking is in relation to the following:

Question 1. How many dogs have been seized by Gwent police under Section One of the Dangerous Dogs Act in each year from 2000 to 2008?

Question 2. ) How many prosecutions under Section One and Section Three of the Dangerous Dogs Act did the Gwent police proceed with in 2007 and 2008?

Question 3. How many dogs have been seized under Section One of the Dangerous Dogs Act so far this year (2009)? Of those seized, how many have been signed over for destruction by their owners?

Question 4. How many applications have been made to the magistrates court under section 4b of the Dangerous Dogs Act in the last three years? Of those 4b applications, how many resulted in destruction orders and how many resulted in registration onto the Index of Exempted Dogs?

Question 5. How many dogs are currently held under Section One and Section Three of the Dangerous Dogs Act?

Question 6. What number of dogs seized under Section One of the Dangerous Dogs Act over the last three years, have been destroyed or have died whilst in police custody, due to illness, injury or disease?

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at, Section 1(1) (a), is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at, Section1 (1) (b), is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

Under the provisions of those sections of FOIA, I can confirm that information you requested is held by Gwent Police for the above questions therefore we are able to comply with your request to supply data.

Answer 1. Since October 2008, 12 Dogs have been seized under the act.

Answer 2. Since October 2008 we have processed through court and had registered 3 Dogs, there are currently 6 dogs awaiting this process.

Answer 3. 2 dogs have been signed over for destruction in 2009. 2 were strays, they haven't been claimed and will be destroyed.

Answer 4. As Q2 3 applications have been made and all 3 have been registered.

Answer 5. 6 are currently held, one with Gwent Police another 5 with a different agency.

Answer 6. This information is not held by Gwent Police.

The Freedom of Information Act is a public disclosure regime, not a private regime. Any information disclosed under the Act is thereafter deemed to be in the public domain, and therefore freely available to the general public and will be published on the Gwent Police website.

I hope this information is satisfactory to your request however, should you feel dissatisfied with this response or the way in which your request was handled, I have attached the Gwent Police FOI Appeals Procedure for your information

Thank you for your interest in Gwent Police.

Dylan Collins
Freedom of Information Officer
Gwent Police

01495 745366

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