Sexual Assaults 2020-25
Reference: 25-26400
Date response sent: 12/01/2026
Details of enquiry
- How many sexual safety incidents took place in trust premises since 1 Jan 2020 to date?
| Total |
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by calendar year*
| a) 2020 | b) 2021 | c) 2022 | d) 2023 | e) 2024 | f) 2025 to date |
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by type of sexual safety incident – e.g. a) rape, b) sexual assault etc
| a) Rape | b) Sexual assault | c) Sexual harassment | d) Stalking | e) Abusive sexual remarks | f) Other |
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by age of victim in the following categories: a) under 18, b) 18-64 and c) 65 and over**
| a)Under 18 | b) 18-64 | c) 65+ |
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by status of the victim and perpetrator in the following categories:
- Perpetrator was a staff member and victim was staff member
- Perpetrator was a member of the public (or patient) and victim was a member of the public (or patient)
- Perpetrator was a member of the public (or patient) and victim was a staff member
- Perpetrator was a staff member and victim was a member of the public (or patient)
| a)staff against staff | b)public/patient against public/patient | c)public/patient against staff | d)staff against public/patient |
- Please provide a breakdown of the total number of rapes since 1 Jan 2020 (i.e. the answer to 3.a) by the age of the rape victim in the following categories: a) under 18, b) 18-64 and c) 65 plus**
| a)Under 18 | b) 18-64 | c) 65+ |
- Does your trust have a dedicated policy to deal with sexual assault and harassment? If so please provide a copy of your trust’s written policy and if possible provide a date that the current policy was put in place.
Response sent
The data you have requested for the period, 2020 to 2025 is presented in the tables below, where we have masked low numbers with the symbol ‘≤5’, which indicates where numbers are equal to 5 or less than 5. The Trust follows guidance by the Information Commissioner, established to not provide exact data where the numbers are smaller than 6 as this may lead to identification of individuals.
The Trust has engaged exemption from releasing exact low numbers in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) Section 40(2) (Information which constitutes the personal data of any person other than the applicant, where disclosure would not be permitted under GDPR, thereby breaching GDPR Principle (a): Lawfulness, fairness and transparency.
As this is an absolute exemption, we do not have to apply the Public Interest Test when engaging this exemption
The Trust recognises a high level of interest from public in how the public purse has been spent on services, and must balance this against disclosure of any small numbers and the years in which these instances occurred, which – whilst not directly identifying individuals, would nevertheless give rise to a disclosure of personal data, as follows:
- Although the year of alone is not personal data, we have also to consider whether other information that is already available, or may become available, to any member of the public, could be combined with the data requested so as to enable identification of the individual(s) concerned.
- There is a high chance of recognition/identification of particular individuals/patients by fellow patients/colleagues and/or others from the low numbers.
- This masking of low numbers is not a just a question of considering the means reasonably likely to be used by general public, but also the means likely to be used by a determined person with a particular reason to want to identify individuals from data in the public domain now or in the future, and/or gained from other sources.
- How many sexual safety incidents took place in trust premises since 1 Jan 2020 to date?
| Total |
| 32 |
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by calendar year*
| a) 2020 | b) 2021 | c) 2022 | d) 2023 | e) 2024 | f) 2025 to date |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 12 (up to 19/12/25
|
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by type of sexual safety incident – e.g. a) rape, b) sexual assault etc
| a) Rape | b) Sexual assault | c) Sexual harassment | d) Stalking | e) Abusive sexual remarks | f) Other |
| ≤5 | ≤5 | 18 | 0 | 8 | ≤5 |
Our response to Question 1 above includes allegation(s) of rape.
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by age of victim in the following categories: a) under 18, b) 18-64 and c) 65 and over**
| a) Under 18 | b) 18-64 | c) 65+ |
| Not held | Not held | Not held |
Age information is not recorded within our data set.
- Please provide a breakdown of the total provided in question 1 by status of the victim and perpetrator in the following categories:
- Perpetrator was a staff member and victim was staff member
- Perpetrator was a member of the public (or patient) and victim was a member of the public (or patient)
- Perpetrator was a member of the public (or patient) and victim was a staff member
- Perpetrator was a staff member and victim was a member of the public (or patient)
| a)staff against staff | b)public/patient against public/patient | c)public/patient against staff | d)staff against public/patient |
| 0 | 14 | 15 | ≤5 |
One incident did not match any of the above categories.
- Please provide a breakdown of the total number of rapes since 1 Jan 2020 (i.e. the answer to 3.a) by the age of the rape victim in the following categories: a) under 18, b) 18-64 and c) 65 plus**
| a) Under 18 | b) 18-64 | c) 65+ |
| Not held | Not held | Not held |
Age information is not recorded within our data set.
- Does your trust have a dedicated policy to deal with sexual assault and harassment? If so please provide a copy of your trust’s written policy and if possible provide a date that the current policy was put in place.
Yes, the Trust has a policy in place for sexual safety relating to patients and this is attached.
For incidents relating to staff, there is a policy in draft and the Trust is currently following the national policy framework document, as attached, issued October 2024.