'PSNI postpones recruitment of 85 officers over finances' BBC

The request was successful.

Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,

The story refers to a letter sent by the Chief Constable to the Policing Board:

"The impact is that 85 student officers will not now commence training."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-i...

1. How many student officers do you currently have?

2. Please provide details of the criteria used to select the 85 student officers who will not commence training.

3. Please provide details of any remuneration the selected student officers will receive whilst waiting to commence training.

4. Please provide copies of any communications sent to selected student officers notifying them that they will not commence training.

Yours faithfully,

J Roberts

J Roberts left an annotation ()

November 2021 Belfast Telegraph

'The PSNI is recruiting 400 additional student officers as part of a new campaign on what is the 20-year anniversary of the service.'

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/...

Police Service of Northern Ireland

This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

24th January 2022

Dear Mr. Roberts,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 23rd January
2022 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
on 24th January 2022.  I note you seek access to the following
information:

Postponement of Recruiting of 85 Student Officers

This request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. A response should be sent to you within 20 working
days however I would like to advise you that PSNI are currently
experiencing a delay in the processing of requests and we aim to respond
to your request as soon as possible.

If your request is unclear and clarification is required the 20 day
legislative time limit dictated by the Freedom of Information Act 2000
will be stopped until we receive clarification of your request. The ICO
guidance at paragraph 40 of the link below sets out that the clock begins
anew the day after the clarification is received. It states

“If the requester subsequently provides enough detail to enable the
authority to identify and locate the information, then the authority must
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with the ‘clock’ starting the day after it receives the required
clarification.”

The link for this is:

[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...

In the event where the cost of complying with the request would exceed the
“appropriate level”, which is fixed at £450, as stated in the Freedom of
Information Regulations 2004, it is the policy of the PSNI to close the
request. You will however be notified of this decision and given an
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If, following an Internal Review carried out by an independent decision
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5AF’, or use the ICO self-service portal available at
[2]http://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/o...

In most circumstances, the Information Commissioner will not investigate a
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however, the Commissioner has the option to investigate the matter at
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Yours sincerely,

Chris

Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn

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References

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1. https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...
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Police Service of Northern Ireland

1 Attachment

This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

Subject:        FOI-2022-00177
28th January 2022

Dear Mr. Roberts,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 23rd January
2022 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on  24th
January 2022 concerning:

Postponement of Recruiting of 85 Student Officers

 

Please find attached response to your request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Stephen

02890700164

 

FOI Decision Maker
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn

show quoted sections

J Roberts left an annotation ()

BBC:

'The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has warned that officer numbers are projected to fall by about 250 this year and that investigations may take longer.

It is currently experiencing a £60m shortfall in its annual budget.

There are currently about 7,000 police officers, however this figure was due to increase under the New Decade, New Approach agreement.

Recruitment to the force has stalled due to the lack of an agreed budget.'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-i...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Belfast Telegraph:

'The PSNI is to put a total freeze on recruitment for an entire year due to a lack of money, according to reports.

Funding problems have created uncertainty for hundreds of officers who were recruited following a recruitment campaign in 2020.

The Nolan Show has revealed 51 new recruits waiting to start training at Garnerville in October will proceed as planned

However, 129 of 224 people on a list who are ready to begin training cannot progress.'

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Belfast Telegraph:

'Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said the PSNI will have the lowest amount of officers in its history next year due to the ongoing recruitment freeze.

He said where staff are hired, it would be “priority posts only” in the coming months.'

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

BBC:

'Simon Byrne confirmed officer numbers may drop to 6,000 by 2025.

In a letter seen by BBC News NI, Mr Byrne voiced concerns over a "smaller, less visible, accessible and responsive police service".

He wrote: "More aspects of service delivery will look different and slow down."'

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ire...