FOI 387637
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 387637
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 4th February 2025. Please find below the response to your request:
I would like to know:
1) Your parental leave policies, including paternity and maternity leave. If you have different policies for police officers and staff, please include both separately
2) For the most recent three years you have data, a) How many officers were eligible for paternity leave? And b) How many officers took paternity leave, and for how many weeks on average?
3) If you have this data, what % of officers who have resigned voluntarily over the last three years cited the impact of their job on their family as a reason?
Reply
Your request for information has been considered, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and I am not obliged to provide the information you requested.
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires West Mercia Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
The exemption applicable to the information requested in Question 1 is:
Sec 21. Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
This is an Absolute, class based exemption.
The information that you require is already available.
Please see the following link:
Please see below the responses to your other questions requested:
2) For the most recent three years you have data, a) How many officers were eligible for paternity leave? And b) How many officers took paternity leave, and for how many weeks on average?
- a) To qualify for maternity support leave, the individual must:
- be the biological father of the child, or
- be married to, or the partner of the child’s mother (partner is the person who lives with the mother in an enduring family relationship but is not a blood relative), or
- be the nominated carer appointed by the mother to assist in the care of the child and to provide support.
The individual must also:
- have 26 weeks continuous service at the “qualifying week” i.e. the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (EWC)
- have or expect to have the main responsibility for the upbringing of their child, along with the other parent, except where the relationship is that of nominated carer.
- b) 195 birth partners have taken maternity support leave in the last 3 years and the entitlement is for up to two weeks (10 days FTE paid leave subject to qualifying service). The individual may choose to take a single block of either one week or two consecutive weeks.
3) If you have this data, what % of officers who have resigned voluntarily over the last three years cited the impact of their job on their family as a reason?
No specific information held