Mental health awareness, training provided to officers and staff & stats of officer/staff accessing the service

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035260

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Access to information on mental health awareness and training programs provided to officers and staff, the frequency and nature of these programs.
2. I am requesting, a copy of the current policies and procedures relating to mental health support for officers and staff within the force. Please include, any changes or updates to these policies in the last five years.
3. I am also requesting, statistics on the number of officers and staff who have accessed mental health support services in the last five years. Could you please break down these statistics by year, rank and type of support accessed (e.g. counselling, therapy, crisis intervention).

Decision

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 43(2) – Commercial Interests

Reason for decision

The searches located information relevant to your request.

Before I explain the reasons for the decisions I have made in relation to your request, I thought that it would be helpful if I outline the parameters set out by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) within which a request for information can be answered.

The Act creates a statutory right of access to information held by public authorities. A public authority in receipt of a request must, if permitted, confirm if the requested information is held by that public authority and, if so, then communicate that information to the applicant.

The right of access to information is not without exception and is subject to a number of exemptions which are designed to enable public authorities to withhold information that is not suitable for release. Importantly, the Act is designed to place information into the public domain, that is, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered public information and must be communicated to any individual should a request be received.

Section 43(2) - Commercial Interests - provides that any information is exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person.

The MPS has claimed Section 43(2) of the Act for question 2 which asks for disclosure of the current policies and procedures relating to mental health support for officers and staff within the force as it is commercially sensitive. Disclosure of current occupational health mental health support is currently outsourced by the MPS to an external occupational health provider and policies and procedures are considered private intellectual property which cannot be shared. If we released this information then the external occupational health provider couldn’t charge for them in the future so would impact their commercial interests.

If we released this information then the External Occupational Health Provider couldn’t charge for them in the future so this would directly impact their commercial interests.

Having considered the requested information for release, I acknowledge that a public interest would be satisfied in demonstrating how public money is spent. This public interest must be balanced against any identified risk.

In this case, disclosure of current policies and procedures relating to mental health support for officers and staff within the force would harm the External Occupational Health Provider who couldn’t charge for them in the future.

Having considered the competing public interest factors, I have found that the public release of information that would negatively influence or impact upon the External Occupational Health Provider is not in the public interest. I have accordingly refused this part of your request for information.

Disclosure

Q1 - Access to information on mental health awareness and training programs provided to officers and staff, the frequency and nature of these programs.

Information on mental health awareness and training programmes are stated on our Health and Wellbeing training page. A sample has been attached for you. The frequency of these courses/training are stated on the page and once the dates have passed or have reached capacity they are removed from the page.

Q2 - I am requesting, a copy of the current policies and procedures relating to mental health support for officers and staff within the force. Please include, any changes or updates to these policies in the last five years.

Current Occupational Health Mental Health support is currently outsourced by the MPS to an external Occupational Health provider and policies and procedures are considered private intellectual property and which cannot be shared.

Q3 - I am also requesting, statistics on the number of officers and staff who have accessed mental health support services in the last five years. Could you please break down these statistics by year, rank and type of support accessed (e.g. counselling, therapy, crisis intervention).

Please note we do not record the rank and type of support for each call and some individuals may have accessed more than one type of support across the year.

Number of Officers that received Counselling Support
Sept 2019/2020	1726
Sept 2020/2021	2143
Sept 2021/2022	2351
Sept 2022/2023	2170

 

Number of Officers supported through Psych Monitoring
Sept 2019/2020	703
Sept 2020/2021	1299
Sept 2021/2022	1492
Sept 2022/2023	4212

 

Number of Officers that received Trauma Support
Sept 2019/2020	185
Sept 2020/2021	264
Sept 2021/2022	237
Sept 2022/2023	177

 

Number of Officers that went through Psych Risk Assessment
Sept 2019/2020	62 (Began 07/2020)
Sept 2020/2021	446
Sept 2021/2022	634
Sept 2022/2023	747

 

Number of MPS Calls to the EAP
2019	2830
2020	3048
2021	3132
2022	3756
2023	3992