FOI 3338 Conference Centre Costs

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 11 October 2011. Please find below the response to your request:

1. How many times have West Mercia Police used the Pear Tree Inn & County Hotel, Smite, Worcester for meetings, conferences etc since Jan 2010

Reply

Two

2. The cost for each use, including refreshments etc

Reply

• 1 x £159.80 Room Hire and refreshments
• 1 x £171.13 Room Hire and refreshments

3. The reason for each use

Reply

Meeting 1

This was a meeting of the new (post force restructure) West Mercia Human Resources Resourcing Department .

The meeting was in two parts 1) To deal with a sensitive personal HR issue in a non-work environment. 2) To review progress made with the new service and future service provision and improvement.

The off-site location was chosen due to the nature of part 1) of the meeting but at the closest location to Police Headquarters to minimise abstraction of staff due to travelling time and travelling costs

Meeting 2

This meeting was a follow up to part 1) of the meeting described above.

Please note that costs from the public purse are always considered very carefully by West Mercia Police and careful consideration was made by senior HR managers on these two occasions as to whether this was appropriate use of resources.  Given the sensitive subject matter discussed at these meetings, and the duty of care to our employees in minimising and managing stress, on these occasions off-site meetings were deemed necessary and appropriate.