FOI 28/25 Resource Management

Enquiry Reference:  FOI 28-25                                                                                 

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request.  Below is your request and our response.

I am writing to request data under the Freedom of Information Act on the caseload and time use in the police forces in England and Wales. I would like any data relating to the hours/minutes per day/month and the number of cases that the average police officer dedicates to specific activities. I am specifically interested in the split between time spent on:

non-crime demand (like responding to mental health, welfare and social care calls)

core policing responsibilities like patrolling, emergency response, intelligence gathering, prison interviewing, crime prevention etc.

administrative tasks, HR activities like training, staff management etc.

Additionally, I am interested in the data broken down by:

Data for each year from 2010 (or the earliest year you have available) onwards. If you do not hold longitudinal data, I'd appreciate stock data for the latest year possible.

The hours/minutes per day/month and the number of cases that the average police officer dedicates to specific activities, split by type of police officer (i.e. sergeant, constable etc.) If that's not available, please feel free to disregard this variable.  

I understand you might not have the data down to this level of specificity, but I've indicated above some second-best alternatives should you have those to hand instead. If all you have is data relating either caseload, or time use, please send whichever you have access to.

Having made enquiries within the Force our answer on this occasion is no information held, we do not record this.

In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request however on this occasion, I can offer no assistance.

The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Decision Maker