Disclosure & Library Team
Ministry of Justice
Postal Point 5.22
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Eloise Freya
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
04 February 2025
Dear Eloise,
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request – 250101004
Thank you for your request dated 1 January 2025 in which you asked for the
following information from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ):
Dear HM Prison & Probation Service, please provide the following information:
In 2023 & 2024, how many intakes were there for PQIP places (i.e. intakes of
new trainee probation officers)? For each intake, how many applications were
there? For each intake, how many trainee probation officer roles were
available? For each intake, were all positions filled? For 2024 intakes, how
many applicants had level 5 qualifications, and how many level 3
qualifications? For 2024 intakes, how many of the successful applicants had
level 5, and how many level 3, qualifications?
Your request has been handled under the FOIA.
I can confirm that the MoJ holds some the information that you have requested, and I
have provided this below.
1) In 2023, how many intakes were there for PQIP places (i.e. intakes of new
Trainee Probation Officers)?
There were two PQiP intakes in 2023, and this spanned two separate financial
years. The intakes took place in March 2023 (Intake 13) and September 2023
(Intake 14).
2) For each intake, how many applications were there?
PQiP Intake 13 = 5622 Total Submitted Applications (March 2023)
PQiP Intake 14 = 1735 Total Submitted Applications (September 2023)
3) For each intake, how many Trainee Probation Officer roles were available?
PQiP Intake 13 = 891 available vacancies
PQiP Intake 14 = 328 available vacancies
4) For each intake, were all positions filled?
All vacancies were filled.
We can confirm that the MOJ holds all of the information that you have requested for
2024. However, it is exempt from disclosure under section 22(1) of the FOIA,
because it is intended for future publication.
This is a qualified exemption which means that the decision to disclose the
information is subject to the public interest test. When assessing whether or not it
was in the public interest to disclose the information to you, we took into account the
following factors:
Public interest considerations favouring disclosure
• Disclosing the information promotes government transparency.
• Provides the public with an understanding of the recruitment effort of the MoJ
that supports the work towards reducing reoffending.
Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information
• In May of each year, the MoJ publishes data on the number of Trainee
Probation Officers who were recruited in the previous financial year. We have
made a public commitment to onboard 1,000 trainees across 2024/25 and the
May publication will confirm whether this public commitment has been
achieved. Prior to May 2025, we are unable to provide any information which
could indicate whether we will meet this commitment as this would not be a
fair and transparent way of delivering this insight to the public.
• If we were to provide details of applicant numbers, roles available and
positions filled for 2024, this would partially pre-empt whether we will reach
this public commitment. As we are providing data for 2023, the comparison
between these figures and the 2024 figures would provide a particular risk of
disclosure.
• Whether or not the MoJ reaches this commitment is a sensitive and high-
profile topic and this is a message that needs to be delivered in a fair manner,
via statistical release.
On balance, we consider the public interest favours withholding the information at
this time.
Appeal Rights
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If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to request an internal
review by responding in writing to one of the addresses below within 40 working
days of the date of this response.
xxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Disclosure & Library Team, Ministry of Justice, Postal Point 5.22, 102 Petty France,
London, SW1H 9AJ
You do have the right to ask the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to
investigate any aspect of your complaint. However, please note that the ICO is likely
to expect internal complaints procedures to have been exhausted before beginning
their investigation.
Yours sincerely
MoJ People and Capability Correspondence
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