Money spent on vetting from 2018/19 to 2022/23(Dec 2022)

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.028254

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. How much money did your force spend on vetting new recruits from 6 April 2012 to 5 April 2013 (financial year)?

2. How much money did your force spend on vetting new recruits from 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022 (financial year)?

3. How many officers in your force have been vetted in the last 5 years?

4. How many officers do you have in total?

Decision

These searches successfully located some of information relevant to your request. The MPS does not hold records that are of sufficient detail from which the cost of vetting new recruits can be calculated. Therefore Question 1 and 2 cannot be answered but I will provide the data for question 3 and 4.

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means

Reason for decision

In relation to question 1 and 2, I can confirm that the MPS does not hold records that are of sufficient detail from which the cost of vetting new recruits between 6 April 2012 to 5 April 2013 and 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022 can be calculated.

Finance have confirmed that they do not categorise vetting spends by new recruits or renewals. So the first step to even try and attempt to answer these questions would be to isolate the vetting records of all recruits from vetting records of renewals. This would therefore involve a case by case search as these records are not automatically recoverable and we cannot differentiate between a vetting record for new recruits and renewals at this stage. Even by isolating a new recruit’s record this would still not document the total spent on vetting that new recruit.

There are a number of variables that will affect the cost vetting a new recruit, this includes:

• The time it takes the vetting officer to complete the vetting process, as each case varies in time.
• The salary of the vetting officer
• The number of staff involved in vetting a new recruit’s case, as it may be reviewed by other members of staff.
• If any additional hours are required for the vetting (overtime can be paid at a different rates to the core hours).
• Any overheads during the vetting process i.e. IT costs.

This list is not exhausive, but it does provide you with a sample of the factors that would affect the cost of vetting a new recruit. Finance do not hold records in great enough detail to answer the points above, and therefore can not provide the overall spend specifically linked to the vetting of new recruits. However, they do hold data that would provide the overall budget/spent on vetting as a whole for the financial year 21/22, but just to reiterate, this cannot then be further broken down into what was solely spent on new recruits vetting. Please note that financial systems used by the MPS have changed over time and therefore the total vetting budget/spends for the financial year 12/13 are not held.

Section 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means

The purpose of the section 21 exemption is to ensure that there is no right of access to information via FOIA if it is available to the applicant by another route. To claim this exemption the data must be reasonably accessible.

Section 21 is both a class based and absolute exemption, therefore there is no requirement to carry out a public interest test to claim this exemption. There is also no need to consider what potential harm would result from disclosing the requested information.

Disclosure

Q1 - How much money did your force spend on vetting new recruits from 6 April 2012 to 5 April 2013 (financial year)?

The information you have requested is not held by the MPS – Please see the section titled Reason for decision for the reasons why.

Q2 - How much money did your force spend on vetting new recruits from 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022 (financial year)?

The information you have requested is not held by the MPS - Please see the section titled Reason for decision for the reasons why.

Q3 - How many officers in your force have been vetted in the last 5 years?

Financial Year	New Officers	Renewals
22-23 (to DEC22)	3422	1447
21-22	4637	2782
20-21	3412	9182
19-20	6751	2238
18-19	2722	2766

Q4 - How many officers do you have in total?

I am pleased to inform you that the information requested is held by the MPS and is already in the public domain via the Workforce data report. The MPS routinely publish large volumes of information on our website, most of which will be available to download straight away. The purpose of the Publication Scheme is to let you know what information is readily available about the MPS and make it simple to obtain.

The information you seek can be accessed via the following link:

Website: MPS Website – Workforce data report

In supplying this information to you I have claimed a Section 21 exemption of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The information requested has been identified as being accessible via other means.

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
Public authorities have a duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance to applicants making a request, this is clearly set out in Section 16 of the Act. The MPS can consider a request for the total spend/budget on vetting for the financial year 21/22.