FOI 256205
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 256205
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 19th June 2023. Please find below the response to your request:
Please provide the information requested for the month of June '21 only.
This request relates mainly to procedures your Professional Standards Department (PSD) must follow concerning investigations as described in Chapter 7 of the following Home Office guidance:
'Policing professional standards, performance and integrity'
- Please provide the number of personnel (FTE) in your PSD.
- Please provide the number of officers PSD interviewed during investigations carried out under the Conduct Regulations.
- Please provide the number of interviews during investigation PSD carried out under the Conduct Regulations.
- Please provide the number of times PSD deemed it unnecessary to conduct formal interviews with officers and requested written accounts instead.
- Please provide the number of interviews officers failed to attend.
"7.66 The officer concerned must attend the interview and it may be viewed as a further misconduct matter to fail to attend this interview."
- Please provide the number of officers whose failure to attend was treated as a further misconduct matter.
"7.76 A record of the interview should be given to the officer concerned after the interview has been conducted, either as an electronic recording or a written summary of the interview."
- Please provide (the number of i) electronic recordings and (ii) written summaries given to interviewed officers.
"7.77 Where the officer concerned refuses or fails to exercise their right to agree and sign a copy, this will be noted by the investigator."
- Please provide the number of times investigators noted that officers did not sign copies of written summaries.
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested in questions 1 to 8 is not available in a readily retrievable format. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually. In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice. Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request. Unfortunately, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed I am unable to identify information that could be supplied within the fees limit.