FOI 558-2025 / May 2025 / Equipment
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 558-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 21st May 2025 as follows:
Q1. How much of your constabulary's budget was spent on procuring restraints, tasers, and incapacitant chemicals from January 2020 to December 2024.
Could I possibly receive these figures broken down by type of equipment and by year, please.
Q2. How much of your constabulary's budget was spend on training to use each of these types of equipment from January 2020 to December 2024.
Could I please receive this information broken down by training for each type of equipment, and by year.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below. When considering the information please note that any numerical data provided is an unaudited snapshot of unpublished data sourced from "live" systems and is subject to the interpretation of the original request by the individual extracting the data.
Q1 response:
Restraints
Regarding spending on procuring restraints, I can advise that, for the specified period, our response is no information held.
Taser / Incapacitant Chemicals
The exact spend associated with procuring Tasers and Incapacitant chemicals within the specified period is held, however, it is exempt from disclosure by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 43(2) Commercial Interests
Information is exempt information under Section 43(2) if its disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
Section 43(2) is a prejudice based qualified exemption and there is a requirement to articulate the harm as well as carrying out a Public Interest Test.
Harm
Disclosure of information that could be used to determine unit pricing is likely to cause financial loss to both the supplier and the purchasing authority. In the event that commercially sensitive information of a supplier in a market is disclosed, then the competitive position of that supplier would be eroded. Companies could also refuse to do business or submit tenders with an authority that readily release their sensitive commercial information into the public domain, thereby reducing competition and, as a result, driving up prices that the force pays for goods or services.
Public Interest Test
Factors Favouring Disclosure
The release of the information would demonstrate openness and accountability for monies spent and would contribute to the accuracy and quality of public debate.
Factors Against Disclosure
There is a public interest in protecting the commercial interests of individual companies and ensuring they are able to compete fairly.
Release of such information would make the market less competitive and erode the benefit this brings to the spending of public money.
Such disclosure may dissuade companies from doing business with or from giving favourable rates to the police service. This would impact upon Warwickshire Police’s ability to get the best value for money for goods or services.
Balance Test
When undertaking a public interest test, factors favouring disclosure need to be balanced against factors against. The benefits of transparency and accountability are highly valued; however, this must be balanced against the harm that would be caused if information were disclosed. As mentioned above, there is a public interest in protecting the commercial interests of individual companies as this ensures that the market remains fair and competitive and that authorities are able to get the best value for money in respect of the goods and services procured.
Therefore, on balance, it is considered that the public interest in providing the exact spending is outweighed by the potential impact release would have, and therefore this letter represents a refusal notice for information in relation to the exact spend.
Instead, I have used approximate spending to formulate my response, and this information has been set out below.
|
Taser Procurement |
|
|
Calendar Year |
Spend |
|
2021 |
55000 (approx.) |
|
2022 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
2024 |
|
*These were primarily funded through a Home Office grant.
|
Incapacitant Chemical Procurement |
|
|
Calendar Year |
Spend |
|
2021 |
1500 (approx.) |
|
2022 |
1000 (approx.) |
|
2023 |
2000 (approx.) |
|
2024 |
1000 (approx.) |
Q2 response:
Restraints / Incapacitant Chemicals
Training in the use of restraints and incapacitant chemicals is provided internally and as part of the officers Initial and Refresher Public and Personal Safety Training (PPST). Therefore, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of these costs as it is delivered in-house and as part of the officers/trainers’ normal duties. Therefore, our response to these parts of the request is no information held.
Tasers
The exact spend associated with Taser training within the specified period is held, however, it is exempt from disclosure by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 43(2) Commercial Interests
For full details of this exemption and the evidence of harm and balance of the public interest, please refer to the response at Q1.
This letter therefore represents a refusal notice for information in relation to the exact spending for Taser training.
I have instead used approximate spending to formulate my response, and this information has been set out below. Please note that this information is only held by financial year and for the periods 2023/24 and 2024/25.
|
Taser Training |
|
|
Financial Year |
Spend |
|
2023/24 |
17000 (approx.) |
|
2024/25 |
21000 (approx.) |
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