I write to request, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, the number of reports of sexual abuse against disabled adults received by this authority between the financial years 2017-2022.
I would like the information to be broken down into the following:
i) The number of reports of sexual abuse against disabled adults, broken down into months, years, and a grand total;
ii) In each case, whether the victim had a learning disability or physical disability, or both;
iii) Whether each report resulted in an investigation, and the outcome of said investigation;
The requested information can be found on this Devon County Council (DCC) document. Please note that an * denotes information that, if disclosed, would contravene the first data protection principle of the Data Protection Act 2018, by making the adults involved identifiable. As such, Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (Personal Data) is applied, and this information is exempt.
Similarly, we are unable to disclose whether, in each case, the victim had a learning disability or a physical disability or both, as DCC considers this information to be exempt under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (Personal Data). Devon County Council are not obliged to provide information that is the personal information of another person if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance we believe that the release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore Section 40(2) is applied.
Devon County Council does not hold the information regarding the number of concerns raised before 2019/20 due to the method of reporting changing at that time.