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FOI Reference: 1145/2024
Request
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Response Q5
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys 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 following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 164 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that some of the information in respect of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to your request for the time frame stipulated it would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and manually reviewing 986 records, that are recorded in this time period.
It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to review and obtain the information.
In order to respond to the specific questions raised, each psychological record would need to be reviewed and assessed against the criteria requested, as it would require a review of all absences categorised within Psychological Disorder category. In addition, there maybe circumstances whereby further information would be required from contact records, Occupational Health records and Fit Notes submitted. This is likely to add additional time to the above estimate.
The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
2023 = 311 psychological absence sickness records x 10 minutes per record = estimated to take over 51 hours in order to re-categorise all the of absences as per this FOI request.
2022 = 244 psychological absence sickness records x 10 minutes per record = estimated to take over 40 hours in order to re-categorise all the of absences as per this FOI request.
2021 = 241 psychological absence sickness records x 10 minutes per record = estimated to take over 40 hours in order to re-categorise all the of absences as per this FOI request.
2020 = 190 psychological absence sickness records x 10 minutes per record = estimated to take over 31 hours in order to re-categorise all the of absences as per this FOI request.
Time estimate to complete task = 164 hours
In accordance therefore with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the Whole of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.
Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided information, relative to question 1 - 4 of your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.
Response Q1
We Currently have two wellbeing dogs and 1 handler, they are golden retrievers.
Response Q2
N/A
Response Q3
We do not have a mental health policy inclusive of the wellbeing dogs, but the wellbeing dogs come through via Oscar Kilo, who provide assessments on the dogs to ensure their suitability:
https://www.oscarkilo.org.uk/
Response Q4
Over the past five years, 40.45% of all sickness absence was categorised as Psychological Disorder within the Sickness Management System.
Sickness within Dyfed Powys Police is not split into the individual conditions – for example as Diabetic Condition, Gout or PTSD, but overarching categories such as Cardiac/Circulatory or Metabolic (Diabetic Condition), Musculoskeletal (Gout) or Psychological Disorder (PTSD) etc. Within each of these categories there can be a number of other health concerns.
Psychological Disorders category within Sickness Management System covers sickness absences for the following reasons:
P000 Psychological Disorders - Stress, depression, mental health & fatigue syndromes |
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Acute stress reaction Addiction Alcoholism Alzheimer's disease Anxiety disorders Asthenia Bereavement Bipolar disorder Burn out Chemical dependency Debility Delusional disorder Dementia Depression Drink or drug related absence |
Drug abuse Eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) Exhaustion Fatigue Fibromyalgia Grief reaction Hypomania Insomnia Lethargy Manic / bipolar depression ME Mood disorder |
Myalgic encephalomyelitis Nervous breakdown Nervous debility Nervous disorder Neurasthenia Neurosis Neuroticism Obsessive-compulsive disorder Panic attacks Panic disorder Paranoia Personal problems Personality disorder
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Phobias Post natal depression Post traumatic stress reaction Post viral fatigue Post viral syndrome Posttraumatic stress disorder Psychosis PTSD Relationship problems Schizophrenia Self-harm Sleep problems Stress |
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 02/01/2025)
Os oes angen y wybodaeth yma arnoch yn Gymraeg, cysylltwch â: If you require this information in Welsh, please contact: |