FOI 463537

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 463537

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16^th March 2026.  Please find below the response to your request:

1. Does your police force maintain a repository, database, or central storage system for Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) students’ dissertations?
2. If such a repository exists, is the content accessible to all officers and staff within your force?
   • For example, can officers search, read, or download previous PCDA dissertations?
   • If access is limited, please outline who may view the repository.

I would be grateful if you could provide any relevant policies, guidance documents, or descriptions relating to how PCDA dissertations are stored and accessed.

Reply

West Mercia Police do not maintain a repository, database, or central storage system for Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) students’ dissertations.

The Evidenced Based Policing Projects are part of the academic assessment for PCDA and as such, these are saved on University of Staffordshire systems. However, under the revised programme, apprentices no longer write a 10,000 word project/dissertation and instead complete an Advanced Operational Portfolio which is aligned to operational duties and assessed to level 6 for academic purposes.