Since 07/2023 Staffordshire Police (SP) have reported (to this day 09/2024) an inability to address FoI requests and the disclosure of police reports due to UNFORSEEN staffing issues. In November 2023, SP reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office as below. A year later, the constabulary having ‘no action plan’, the ICO issued a ‘Practice Recommendation’, reference FPR0987682, to the constabulary – read more here.
11/2023 SP to ICO
FOI Position Report
Summary
SP compliance with regards to FOI responses is going to fall significantly due to recruitment difficulties within the Central Disclosure Unit (CDU). The timeline of events that has caused this and the measures we have put in place are detailed below. Recruitment is proving difficult across the organisation, there are many factors involved from negative publicity around policing through to levels of pay.
Background
The FOI team is made up of 3 full time equivalent (FTE) posts.
The table below describes the timeline of the posts. Prior to September 2022 all 3 posts were filled in a permanent way and compliance was maintained.
Compliance
Despite the recruitment difficulties SP have endeavoured to comply with the 90% target since September 2022;
| Sept 22 | Oct 22 | Nov 22 | Dec 22 | Jan 23 | Feb 23 | Mar 23 | Apr 23 | May 23 | June 23 | July 23 | Aug 23 | Sept 23 | Oct 23 |
| 93% | 94% | 97% | 89% | 87% | 87% | 68% | 88% | 88% | 95% | 93% | 93% | 82% | 89% |
Recruitment
Recruitment has been a continuous process throughout late 2022 and 2023;
Redeployees – the posts have been offered at each stage to redeployees, there has been no interest
Internal adverts – have attracted no applicants
External adverts – have attracted limited numbers of applicants, all of which have been put through for interview as only 1/3 are currently turning up to be interviewed. Interviews have taken place in October 2022, May 2023 and July 2023
In the July session 12 applicants were put through for interview, 4 turned up, 3 were offered FOI positions and 2 subsequently failed vetting. We are due to interview again on 14th November, 6 applicants and all have been put through to interview. The successful candidates will be subject to the vetting process and any estimated start date will be 3 months from offer Actions taken
- Request has gone to CDU staff to complete overtime to maintain a basic level of service – this has been taken up by 1 part time member of staff who has agreed to do 2 days a week extra monitoring the inbox of FOI requests. All other staff are already doing overtime to meet other statutory obligations for subject rights and court orders
- Request has gone across SP to ex CDU staff, together with analysts and researchers for overtime to assist. To date there has been no take up
- Request has gone to People Services for any restricted officers or staff that could assist, there have been no suitable resources
- Request has gone to People Services for agency cover, there have been no suitable candidates
- Vetting have agreed to expedite any CDU applicants through the process
- A response to requesters has been formulated to send in the near future;
Due to unforeseen staffing issues beyond our control, Staffordshire Police are currently unable to comply with the statutory 20 working day deadline for all Freedom of Information requests. We apologise for the reduced level of service during this time.
In order to assist us in maintaining a level of service to all requesters if at any point you no longer require the requested information please let us know and your request can be closed. Both the Information Commissioners Office and the National Police Chiefs Council have been made aware of this position.
- Review; the CDU review into the capability, resource and demand is already a significant way through. Part of this has been to re write the role profiles and submit them for pay re-evaluation to see if this assists in recruitment. The current salary range is £25,713 to £29,874, the outcome of the evaluation is awaited
- To assist with the cost of living, retain staff and make the department attractive to work in, over and above what SP already offer, the CDU has moved to a 50% work from home model
- The ICO FOI self-assessment toolkit for Topic 1-Timeliness has been completed based upon an assumption that we will not be able to respond to FOI requests (see attached)
27/08/2024, SP wrote:
Updated Position August 2024
Staffordshire Police have completed a review of the provision of this service and a recruitment process has taken place. Unfortunately, until the necessary checks have been completed and the new employees are in place Staffordshire Police are not in a position to process any new Civil Proceedings or ABI MoU Insurance requests, this includes all requests for RTC or associated crime related information.
We apologise for the reduced level of service during this time. Please do not contact the control room or any other department as they will be unable to assist.
Emails sent to the Civil email account will not be responded to unless they relate to an already accepted request.
That same day, SP wrote:
‘A new team has been formed to deal with these requests but due to staffing levels, and the training of new staff to the organisation, requests cannot currently be accepted and worked on until the team members are in a position to go live, therefore, I appreciate your patience in this matter, and respectfully request that you re-submit this request along with any others from September 19th onwards.’
24/09/2024, SP wrote as at 27/08/2024:
Updated Position August 2024
Thank you for your email.
Staffordshire Police have completed a review of the provision of this service and a recruitment process has taken place.
Unfortunately, until the necessary checks have been completed and the new employees are in place Staffordshire Police are not in a position to process any new Civil Proceedings or ABI MoU Insurance requests, this includes all requests for RTC or associated crime related information.
We apologise for the reduced level of service during this time.
Please do not contact the control room or any other department as they will be unable to assist.
Emails sent to the Civil email account will not be responded to unless they relate to an already accepted request.
25/ 09/2024, having returned to the constabulary in accordance with the above direction we ‘re-submit a request along with any others from September 19th onwards’ and referring them to ‘the new team’, we received the response that same day:
You are correct with your reply, and the team has been put in the place, however, things have not gone entirely to plan, and unfortunately, not all the staff that were to join the team and commence training have done so. We hope to process requests as soon as possible, but I must apologise as I cannot give a timeline for this, but hopefully this will not be too far in the future.
19/11/2024, the constabulary having ‘no action plan’, the ICO issued a ‘Practice Recommendation’, reference FPR0987682, to the constabulary – read more here.