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'Recruitment Performance within Shared Service Centre'.
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Data Access & Compliance Unit 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ T 020 334-3239 F 020 3334-2245 E dave.norris@justice.gsi.gov.uk
www.justice.gov.uk |
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Ian
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Our Ref: FOI 57236 |
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5 March 2009 |
Dear Ian,
Request for information
Thank you for your e-mail of 18 December 2008, in which you asked for details below regarding the Shared Service Centre in Newport from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
Information regarding the performance of the recruitment functions of the shared service centre in Newport, Gwent.
1. What percentage of applicants who pass their RAD (Recruitment
Assessment Day) are placed with in the 8 week period as promised by
the Vetting Department?
2. What are the mean waiting times from passing the RAD to starting
a position within the Prison Service?
A regional breakdown would be more that helpful.
3. What percentage of people pass/don't pass the vetting procedure?
4. Is there a complaints procedure in place for people who are
waiting an excessive amount of time for the vetting procedure.
Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests which relate to National Offender Management Service (NOMS) which includes the Prison and Probation Services and has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). I apologise for the delay in replying.
Please see response from Shared Service Centre (SSC) below which explains their procedures and reasons why your request would incur disproportionate costs.
The data that is being requested is not something that is readily available from HMPS systems.
There are several stages, or events that occur after applicants attend a RAD and before they start employment:
1 - RAD centres need to send paper recruitment files to HQ Allocations team, to determine if the applicant can be allocated/tagged to a vacancy
2 - HQ Allocations liaise with prison establishments in determining the vacancies available
3 - If a vacancy is confirmed -- Vetting checks commence in parallel with determining health and fitness status for each applicant
4 - Subject to satisfactory outcome of health checks, vetting checks and fitness tests, HQ allocations confirm vacancy status after accounting for internal managed appointments, placement of legacy candidates and placement of any surplus staff
5 - If HQ allocations confirm vacancy is available after accounting for internal movement of staff -- SSC arrange for a verbal offer of employment for the applicant
6 - Negotiations begin with applicant around a mutually agreeable start date (this is dictated by applicant notice periods, personal circumstances as well as training course availability and training course locations)
SSC are not in control of the processing times for point 1, 2, 4 or 6.
SSC Resourcing holds individual records of RAD (Recruitment Assessment Dates). SSC also hold a record of start dates for each applicant/employee, however, there is not a report that collates success ratios or timelines on a regional basis.
In order to provide the information being requested, HMPS would need to create reports engaging help of IT staff, to show the timescales for all the stages listed above.
The cost of producing this data is predicted to be in excess of £600, based on 1 FTE support, undertaking up to 6 days full time work from IT department. Together with 1.5 days Manager "E" time in producing specification, analysing / testing accuracy, over viewing outputs.
Section 12 of the FOI[Author ID1: at Tue Nov 11 12:35:00 2008 ]A makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
As your request is widely framed, I estimate that it will take us in excess of 3.5 working days to determine appropriate material within the scope of your request, and locate, retrieve and extract that information.
I am sorry that on this occasion it has not been possible to suggest ways in which you could narrow the scope of your request in order to bring it within the cost limit.
As part of our obligations under the FOIA, the Ministry of Justice has an independent review process. If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may write to request an internal review. The internal review will be carried out by someone who did not make the original decision, and they will re-assess how the Department handled the original request.
If you wish to request an internal review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two months of the date of this letter, at the following address:
Data Access and Compliance Unit
Information Directorate
Ministry of Justice
1st Floor, Zone 1C
Post point 1.41
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office under Section 50 of the FOIA. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Dave Norris
Case Officer
