Redacted appointment letters sent to transferee candidates

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.036315

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to see all templates of the offer of appointment letters sent to transferee candidates from other Home Office forces in the rank of constable (either regular constable or detective constable) in use between January 2022 and now.

I would like to see all templates of the offer of appointment letters sent to transferee candidates from other Home Office forces in the rank of sergeant in use between January 2022 and now.

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 31(1)(a)(b) – Law Enforcement

Reason for decision

Section 31(1)(a)(b) – Law Enforcement - I have made the decision to release the located documents to you, however, please be advised that the telephone number and email address for the recruitment team, which were provided in both documents, have been redacted. This is because releasing these contact details into the public domain in response to an FOIA request, could lead to an increase of calls to that number, and/or enquiries to that email address, which could impact on that department and our recruitment processes.

We already have established published routes to allow the public to make enquiries in relation to recruitment (Careers | Metropolitan Police), and for emergency and general enquiries (Contact Us | Metropolitan Police)

Releasing the telephone number and email address direct to the recruitment team in response to a FOIA request could lead to calls being made to that number, and/or enquiries being made to that email address, instead of to the numbers and via the contact methods already made available to the public. In the event that members of the public started to use the Recruitment Team telephone number to call police, and/or their email address to make enquiries, officers would need to be redeployed from other duties to monitor the number/email address. This would therefore not only impact on our recruitment processes, but also on our core functions of preventing and detecting crime and apprehending offenders. Section 31(1)(a)(b) of the Act, which provides an exemption for information prejudicial to law enforcement, has therefore been applied to refuse disclosure in this case.

The MPS is charged with enforcing the law and preventing and detecting crime. Any information released under the Act which would impact on this would prejudice the prevention and detection of crime and the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

The telephone number and email address that have been redacted from the disclosed documents are direct to our Recruitment Team and therefore need to be kept free for matters relating to recruitment. If the telephone number and email address were released into the public domain, members of the public could use them to call/contact police for other matters and additionally, individuals wishing to cause disruption, could make nuisance calls to the number. This would impact on both recruitment and operational policing as officers would need to be re-deployed from other units to monitor the telephone number; it could also lead to us having to change the number which would have a cost implication on the public purse, due to the cost of changing the number, but also in staff time to disseminate the new number across the MPS.

Release would have the effect of compromising our recruitment processes which would in turn impact on the ability of the MPS to fulfil its primary aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public.

Disclosure would technically be releasing information into the public domain which would enable those with the time, capacity and inclination to disrupt recruitment to the MPS which would prejudice law enforcement.

As much as there is public interest in recruitment to the MPS, the MPS is currently facing a shortfall in officer numbers amid recruitment struggles and disclosing information which would further impact on this would not be in the public interest.

It is our opinion therefore that for these reasons the balancing test for disclosure is not made out.

Disclosure

Please find below the following documents:

Redacted Home Office offer letter - template
Redacted external promotions offer letter - template

As outlined above, these documents have been redacted.