01/FOI/26/007803/R - Data on drug facilitated sexual assault

Request:

My query relates to data on drug facilitated sexual assault. I appreciate there is no Home Office crime code specifically for this and so I am asking you to cross check particular crimes with key word searches in the text fields.

I would like all of the following data broken down for each calendar year from 2015 to 2025, and Jan to June 2016.

1. For each year: The number of incidents reported of rape or sexual assault where the log also contains any of the following key words: “sleep” OR “drugged” OR “drug facilitated” (on your incident logs) 

2. For each of the above (broken down by year), how many of these incidents were then logged as crimes? (on your crime recording system) 

3. For each of the crime reports (in questions 2), how many: a. Proceeded to investigation, b. Proceeded to prosecution, c. were logged as No Further Action 

4. For each year - how many a. Incidents logged, and b. Crimes logged for “conspiracy to rape” 

5. For each year - how many a. Incidents logged, and b. Crimes logged for “conspiracy to administer a substance with intent” 

6. For each year - how many a. Incidents logged, and b. Crimes logged for “administering a substance with intent to engage in sexual activity” 

If you are unable to answer any part of this request please move on to the next question and provide as much information as you can.

Response:

Humberside Police can confirm we do hold the information you requested.

1. A search from the incident log was conducted for the requested key words on Incidents with the related incident type of Sexual Offences or Rape. This includes answers which may not be relevant to the context as stated within the request regarding drug facilitated sexual assault.
   Recording techniques and awareness has increased throughout the years. As this request is a key word search there is a correlation between improved recording of Incidents on top of increasing trends. 

2. Data is only available from mid-2022 due to a change of system. Therefore, we have provided the data from 2023, as the first full year. Also to note, only crimes which have an incident reference number are included in these figures. 

3. From the search above in Q2, we have provided the number of crimes by outcome type of each investigation and included how many of the crimes are still an Ongoing Investigation.

4. A search on the incident logs was conducted for “rape” and “conspiracy”. Therefore, these could include logs which may not relate to the context of the request. A search for offence title relating to “conspiracy to rape” was concluded within the crime environment.

5. A search on the incident logs was conducted for “conspiracy” and “substance”. Therefore, these could include logs which may not relate to the context of the request. A search for offence title relating to “conspiracy to administer substance with intent” was concluded within the crime environment. 

6. A search on the incident logs was conducted for “substance”, “given” and “administered” was applied. Therefore, these could include logs which may not relate to the context of the request. A search for offence title relating to “administer substance with intent” was concluded within the crime environment. Although the request specifically asks for engaging in Sexual Activity, the offence searched for is from Sec61 of Sexual Offences Act 2003 and is related to administering a substance relating to engaging in sexual activity. 

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide information and statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force’s response to your questions should not be used for the comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.