Missing Children

The request was partially successful.

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

I would like to know how many children have gone missing from the "Care System" , year on year , since 2001 .

Are these children that "go missing" from the care system actually found "safe and well" ?

Yours faithfully,

Melizza Moore

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms Moore

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2012040002179
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 18/04/2012.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

* "I would like to know how many children have gone missing from the    
"Care System" , year on year , since 2001 .         Are these children
that "go missing" from the care system actually     found "safe and
well" ?"

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act).  You will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act,
subject to the information not being exempt or containing a reference
to a third party.  In some circumstances the MPS may be unable to
achieve this deadline.  If this is likely you will be informed and
given a revised time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your
right of complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
write quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

James Prescott
Policy & Support Officer
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think
the decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your
request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is
to telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your
decision letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues
and assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision
of the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act)
regarding access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS
to have the decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days
from the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied
with the decision you may make application to the Information
Commissioner for a decision on whether the request for information has
been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information
Commissioner please visit their website at
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.  Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

Find us at:

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Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms. Moore

Freedom of Information Request Reference Numbers: 2012040001832 and
2012040002179

I write in connection with your following requests for information which
have been received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on the dates
specified:

Request One: 2012040001832.  Received: 14/04/2012

I would like to know how many children have run away/gone missing from
their institutional placements/ foster homes in the past ten years?
     
How many cited sexual, emotional or physical abuse as their reasons?
     
Did these children ever return back to their placements?

Request Two: 2012040002179.  Received: 17/04/2012

I would like to know how many children have gone missing from the "Care
System", year on year, since 2001.
     
Are these children that "go missing" from the care system actually found
"safe and well"?

DECISION  

This letter is to inform you that it will not be possible to respond to
your request within the cost threshold by virtue of section 12 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA). In accordance with section 17(5)
FoIA, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice. Please see the legal annex for
the sections of the Act that are referred to in this letter.

REASON FOR DECISION

Aggregation of requests

Section 12(4) of the Act states that two or more requests for the same or
substantially similar information made by one person, or by different
persons who appear to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign,
can be aggregated for the consideration of cost.

In light of the above, the MPS has today decided to aggregate the above
two requests as they are for substantially similar information in
connection with missing children. The MPS has taken the decision to
aggregate these two requests for cost purposes, and refuse them by virtue
of section 12(2) of the FoIA in accordance with section 12(4) of the FoIA
and section 5 of the Fees Regulations - copies of which can be found in
the legal annex.

Costs estimation

I hope the following explanation will clarify why it will not be possible
to respond to your request within the 18 hour cost threshold stipulated by
the FoIA.  In order to assess whether the information that you have
requested was held and could be located, retrieved and extracted within
the cost limit, I have made some initial enquiries with Territorial
Policing and Directorate of Information and advised it would exceed 18
hours to locate and extract the information. This is because there is no
central database where all of this information would be recorded for the
date period you have requested and information could be recorded in a
number of MPS systems, both manual and computerised.

I am advised that the MPS system for recording such information regarding
missing children would be MERLIN, which came into operation in 2003.
 Therefore any information prior to this date may be held in manual forms,
but we would not know if this is held unless further searches are
conducted at all 32 Borough Operational Command Units (BOCU’s).  In
addition I can advise you that records over 7 years old may have since
been reviewed and unless required to be retained, destroyed in accordance
with MPS retention policies.

I am further advised that the MERLIN system would not necessarily hold the
information in the format you are requesting, that is, as to whether the
missing child was in ‘the "Care System" or ‘ institutional placements/
foster homes’.  Therefore a member of police staff would have to read
every entry to establish if the requested information is held and then
locate and extract any pertinent information relevant to your requests.

Whilst I am unable to provide you with an exact estimation, I can advise
you that if it took just 3 minutes to manually read every entry on MERLIN,
this would equate to over 50 hours for every 1,000 records.  

Section 12 -  Where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance in respect of the use
of Section 12 suggests that if one portion of the whole request exceeds
cost (for example, one question out of three), then the entire request
does and following this it is incumbent upon the Public Authority to
engage with the applicant in order to bring the request within cost. This
is supported by ICO Decision Notice FS50194062 (paragraph 24) where the
ICO was of the opinion that ‘where the appropriate limit is exceeded the
public authority should advise the applicant what information could be
provided within the cost limit. In this way the applicant has the chance
to choose what element of the request he wants to focus on.’  The decision
notice can be found by way of this link:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/d...

The ICO also advises on using the Fees regulations ‘Section 12 makes it
clear that a public authority does not have to make a precise calculation
of the costs of complying with a request.  Only an estimate is required
... what amounts to a reasonable estimate can only be considered on a case
by case basis.'  The ICO further advises 'where a reasonable estimate has
been made that the appropriate limit would be exceeded, there is no
requirement for a public authority to undertake work up to the limit.’  

We estimate that the cost of complying with this request would exceed the
appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations
and for agencies outside central Government; this is set at £450.00.  
This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours (at a
rate of £25 per hour) in determining whether the MPS holds the
information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

Section 16 - Advice and Assistance

Section 16 of the Act places a duty upon a public authority to provide
advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the
authority to do so. I would like to assist you further with submitting a
new request for recorded information which can be located, retrieved and
extracted within the 18 hours specified by the Act.

You may wish to narrow your request for information from MERLIN for the
number of under 18 year olds reported missing each financial year from
2003 to 2012.

You may also wish to request information from MERLIN for the number of
under 18 year olds in care reported missing from Foster care, Kinship
carer and residential care homes from April 2011. I would like to advise
you that this is not a mandatory field and as such the figure will not be
a complete reflection of the number of children missing from the
aforementioned establishments. Again, to establish the complete picture
will require a member of police staff reading every record for those
reported missing who were under 18 years old and may exceed the cost
threshold again.

In regards to reasons for under 18 year olds to go missing we are able to
provide the number of victims aged 0-18 by major crime category. However
it is worth noting that this data is not linked to the MERLIN system and
we would not be able to establish whether those victims were from the
mentioned establishments, as this would again require a member of staff to
read through each crime report which would exceed the cost threshold.

Whilst I appreciate this may not be the response you would have liked, I
hope the explanation I have provided has explained why the MPS is unable
to comply with your request within the 18 hours fees limit as set out by
the Fees Regulations mentioned above.

If you wish to discuss redefining your request, please contact me on 020
7161 3300 or via email at [email address]

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet which details your right of
complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact Natalie Gabriel on telephone number 020 7161 3300 quoting the
reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Natalie Gabriel
Information Manager

LEGAL ANNEX

Section 17(5) of the Act provides:

(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information,
is relying on a claim that section 12 or 14 applies must, within the time
for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that
fact.

Section 12(2) of the Act provides:

(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its
obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the
estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the
appropriate limit.

Section 12 (4) of the Act provides:

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that, in such
circumstances as may be prescribed, where two or more requests for
information are made to a public authority-
(a) by one person, or
(b) by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting
in concert or in pursuance of a campaign,
the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to
be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.

Section 5 of The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004

5.  - (1) In circumstances in which this regulation applies, where two or
more requests for information to which section 1(1) of the 2000 Act would,
apart from the appropriate limit, to any extent apply, are made to a
public authority -
(a) by one person, or

(b) by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting
in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying
with any of the requests is to be taken to be the total costs which may be
taken into account by the authority, under regulation 4, of complying with
all of them.

(2) This regulation applies in circumstances in which-
(a) the two or more requests referred to in paragraph (1) relate, to any
extent, to the same or similar information, and

(b) those requests are received by the public authority within any period
of sixty consecutive working days.
 
(3) In this regulation, "working day" means any day other than a Saturday,
a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday
under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971[4] in any part of the
United Kingdom.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk
Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Avril Williams left an annotation ()

Whilst I understand the issue of 'cost', the fact that the information that you have requested,(which involves the 'care' system), isn't easily available ties in with the apparent discovery that only partial information is available about the numbers of Adoptions that have broken down.

Melizza Moore left an annotation ()

Hmm Adoption Breakdown , yes I got the responses nearly for that , the Police business is going to be harder I think because of the sensitive subject and that lovely Data Protection Act. I am gonna have to reword it better a little. I'm dreading it.