Social media and PR spend
Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I would like to request some information relating to the social media and PR spend of your police force.
I would like to request all the following numbers for these years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
1) Total spend on social media (including staff costs, software, paid ads etc)
2) Number of staff employed to work on social media (full time equivalent)
3) Total spend for PR and communications inc. social media (including staff costs, software, advertising etc)
4) Number of staff employed in the PR and communications team (full time equivalent)
Regarding parts 1 and 3 ideally I would like this broken down into categories such as:
Staff costs (e.g salaries, training, travel expenses)
Software costs (e.g monitoring and scheduling tools)
Advertising costs (e.g paid facebook ads, printed materials)
Then any other relevant category breakdowns you can provide.
If this is not practical then under your section 16 duty to advise and assist I would expect you to contact me to discuss how you record this financial data so that I can narrow my request in a way that works for both of us.
If you cannot provide all the data within the specified time and budget constraints, then you can focus on the years 2021, 2022, 2023.
My preferred format to receive this information is by electronic means. For both parts I would prefer the format to be an excel sheet, but if this is not possible within the time any money constraints of a FOI request then you can provide the answer in a different format.
If you need any clarification of this request or if it is too broad in any way please feel free to email me. If some parts of this request
are more difficult to answer than others please release the answerable material as it is available rather than hold up the entire request for the contested data.
If FOI requests of a similar nature have already been asked could you please include your responses to those requests. I would be grateful if you could confirm that you have received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you within the 20-working day statutory time period.
Yours faithfully,
Miss Fletcher
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
13th February 2024
Dear Miss Fletcher,
FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000
I write in connection with your request for information dated 13th
February 2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland
(PSNI) on 13th February 2024. I note you seek access to the following
information:
Social media and PR spend
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. The Freedom of Information team will advise you in writing if there
are any delays in responding to your request and will keep you advised of
progress.
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
respond to the clarified request within a new 20 working day time limit
with the ‘clock’ starting the day after it receives the required
clarification.“
The link for this is:
[1]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
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
opportunity to refine and resubmit the request.
If your request requires either full or partial transference to another
public authority in order to answer your request again, you will be
notified.
If you have any queries regarding your request please write to the
Corporate Information Branch via email or the address below. Please
remember to quote the reference number listed above in any future
communications with the Corporate Information Branch.
If you are dissatisfied in any way with the handling of your request, you
have the right to request a review. You should do this as soon as possible
or in any case within two months of the date of issue of this letter. In
the event that you require a review to be undertaken, you can do so by
writing to the Corporate Information Manager, Corporate Information
Branch, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road, Belfast, BT5 6LE or by emailing
[email address].
If, following an Internal Review carried out by an independent decision
maker, you remain unhappy about how your request has been handled you have
the right to apply in writing to the Information Commissioner at
‘Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. There are a number of other platforms you can use to
contact the ICO and these can be found on the ICO’s website at the
following link: Make a complaint | ICO
([2]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).
In most circumstances, the Information Commissioner will not investigate a
complaint unless an internal review procedure has been carried out
however, the Commissioner has the option to investigate the matter at
their discretion.
Yours sincerely,
Frank
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
References
Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
2. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,
I wanted to make some clarifications:
For Q2 I would like:
1) the number of people who work full time on social media (full time equivalent)
2) the number of people who have social media as part of their roles (full time equivalent), and what % of their time they spend on social media related activities (can be an estimate).
And in Q1:
For the staffing costs breakdown, please include a section for staff who work full time on social media and a section for people who have it as part of their job description. For the people who work on it part time, include the full staffing cost for them.
So the breakdown will be:
- Staff costs (full time SM)
- Staff costs (part of roll SM)
- Software costs (please indicate what software you use)
- Advertising costs
- Then any other relevant category breakdowns you can provide
Please also provide the data in spreadsheet form where possible.
Yours faithfully,
Veronica Fletcher
Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,
Please also limit the data to the team that deals the most with PR and Communications, for example the Comms team or the Media team. I don't need data collated from several team across the police force, unless you don't have a central teams that deals with social media / PR / Comms.
Yours faithfully,
Veronica Fletcher
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
6th March 2024
Dear Miss Fletcher,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000
I write in connection with your request for information dated 13th
February 2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland
(PSNI) on 13th February 2024. I note you seek access to the following
information:
Social Media and PR spend
To enable the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to meet your
request could you please provide further clarification on the following;
Can you confirm if you wish your request to cover financial years?
This timeframe would be for:
FY 19/20 – (01/04/2019 – 31/03/2020)
FY 20/21 – (01/04/2020 – 31/03/2021)
FY 21/22 – (01/04/2021 – 31/03/2022)
FY 22/23 – (01/04/2022 – 31/03/2023)
You should be aware that the 20 day legislative time limit dictated by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been stopped. Once we receive
clarification of your request a new 20 working day time limit will
commence.
Please send clarification of your request by writing to Corporate
Information Branch, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5 6LE or by
email to [email address]. Alternatively, if you wish to discuss your
request or have any additional queries you can contact the Corporate
Information Branch on 028 9070 0164.
Yours sincerely,
Rudi
FOI Decision Maker
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
Office Number: 02890700164
Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,
Yes - I confirm those dates are okay.
Can you also provide 23/24 from Apr-Jan (10 months) - I realise this won't be a full year yet.
Yours faithfully,
Veronica Fletcher
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
Subject: FOI-2024-00605
19th April 2024
Dear Miss Fletcher,
FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000
I write in connection with your request for information dated 13th
February 2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland
on 13th February 2024 concerning:
Social Media and PR spend
I regret to inform you the Police Service of Northern Ireland have
experienced a delay and not been able to respond to your request within
the statutory timescale.
I can assure you that every effort will be made to respond to your request
as soon as possible.
May I apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have any queries
regarding your request please do not hesitate to contact me via the email
below. When contacting the Corporate Information Branch, please quote the
reference number listed at the beginning of this email.
Yours sincerely,
Rudi
FOI Decision Maker
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
Office Number: 02890700164
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
Subject: FOI-2024-00605
20th May 2024
Dear Miss Fletcher,
FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000
I write in connection with your request for information dated 13th
February 2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland
on 13th February 2024 concerning:
Social Media and PR spend
Please find attached response to your request.
Please accept my apologises for the delay in responding to your request.
Yours sincerely,
Rudi
FOI Decision Maker
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
Office Number: 02890700164
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now