Quickly exit this site by pressing the Escape key Leave this site
We use some essential cookies to make our website work. We’d like to set additional cookies so we can remember your preferences and understand how you use our site.
You can manage your preferences and cookie settings at any time by clicking on “Customise Cookies” below. For more information on how we use cookies, please see our Cookies notice.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Sorry, there was a technical problem. Please try again.
This site is a beta, which means it's a work in progress and we'll be adding more to it over the next few weeks. Your feedback helps us make things better, so please let us know what you think.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-289-2021
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 25th March 2021 as follows:
I would like information on the demographic makeup of your police force.
The total current number of police within the force, and break down by ethnicity and gender.
The number of police recruited into the force over the last 24 month and 12 month period, and break down by ethnicity and gender.
Please provide the information up until March 2021 – or the nearest date possible to this.
I hope the below charts explain what I am looking for with the data:
Recruits from March 2019-March 2020: |
Male |
Female |
Total |
All ethnicities |
|||
Asian |
|||
Black |
|||
Mixed |
|||
White |
|||
Other |
Recruits from March 2020-March 2021: |
Male |
Female |
Total |
All ethnicities |
|||
Asian |
|||
Black |
|||
Mixed |
|||
White |
|||
Other |
Total current number of police within force: |
Male |
Female |
Total |
All ethnicities |
|||
Asian |
|||
Black |
|||
Mixed |
|||
White |
|||
Other |
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below:
Response: Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Warwickshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
The exemptions applicable to the information are:
Section 21(1) - Information reasonably accessible by other means
Section 22(1) - Information intended for future publication
Section 21 is an absolute, class based exemption and there is no requirement to carry out a Public Interest Test.
Information regarding police workforce data is published annually by the Home Office:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2020
This includes workforce data for each force by ethnicity and sex (table D2), police officer joiners by ethnicity (table D3) and police officer joiners by sex (table JL1) up to March 2020.
With regard to the requested information for the period to March 2021, the exemption applicable is:
Section 22 - Information intended for future publication
Section 22 is a qualified and class-based exemption. As such, I am required to apply the public interest test which is set out below:
Public Interest Test
Factors favouring disclosure:
Disclosure of the information would lead to a well-informed public in relation to the demographics of the workforce, enabling accurate awareness and debate.
Factors favouring non-disclosure:
Police workforce data is routinely published by the Home Office and the most recent information will be published in the near future. It would not be in the public interest for the Freedom of Information Act to be used to obtain information which will be made available under existing procedures.
The Section 22 exemption exists to benefit public authorities where information is proactively published. To produce new and up to date elements of the data, prior to the publishing of the collective data, will render this exemption less effective and remove the benefit of proactive publication.
Balance Test
The public interest test is centred on whether this information should be released into the public domain so that any person may be able to view it, not just the requestor.
Public awareness is important in relation to how the workforce is made up. However, it has been confirmed that this information will be published in the near future, once it has been properly prepared. Researching, retrieving and releasing this information prior to the completion of this process would not benefit the core purpose of policing of preventing or detecting crime and preservation of life, and would therefore not be in the public interest.
In accordance with the Act, this letter represents a Refusal Notice for this particular request.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB