Maternity and paternity policy 422/2026
FOI Reference: 422/2026
Request:
1. POLICIES
Please provide a copy of your current maternity policy and paternity policy for police staff (i.e. non-officer, civilian employees).
2. STAFF NUMBERS - MATERNITY AND PATERNITY LEAVE
For each of the last five financial years (2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24), please provide:
a) The number of police staff members who commenced maternity leave.
b) The number of police staff members who commenced paternity leave.
Please provide figures for police staff only, excluding police officers, unless your force does not make this distinction.
3. RETENTION FOLLOWING MATERNITY OR PATERNITY LEAVE (2020-2025)
For the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2025, of those police staff members who took maternity or paternity leave:
a) How many returned to work following their leave?
b) Of those who returned, how many remained employed by your force as of the date of this request?
If your force holds this data broken down by maternity and paternity separately, please provide it in that format.
4. PREGNANCY RISK ASSESSMENTS - SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION UNITS
We are particularly interested in the practice of pregnancy risk assessments for staff working in roles with potential exposure to hazardous substances or environments. Please provide the following:
a) A copy of any template or standard pregnancy risk assessment form used by your force for staff in scientific investigation roles.
b) A copy of any policy, guidance, or procedure specifically governing pregnancy risk assessments for staff in scientific investigation units, including but not limited to:
- Crime Scene Investigation / Scene of Crime Officers
- Fingerprint examination units
- Chemical or forensic laboratories
- Digital forensics / cyber investigation teams
- Any other scientific or technical units where exposure to hazardous chemicals, biological material, radiation, or other occupational risks may occur
c) For the last five financial years (2019/20 to 2023/24), how many pregnancy risk assessments were conducted for staff working within scientific investigation units (as listed above)?
d) Of those assessments, in how many cases was the member of staff:
i) Temporarily redeployed to alternative duties as a result of the assessment?
ii) Unable to continue in their role for the duration of their pregnancy?
e) Does your force maintain a register or log of substances and chemicals to which pregnant staff in these units may be exposed, and if so, please provide a copy or summary of that register.
If your force does not have a dedicated scientific investigation unit, or does not hold some of this data in a retrievable format, please confirm this clearly.
Response 1:
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.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires -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.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, however the following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
Section 21 – Information reasonably accessible by other means:
(1) Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—
(a)information may be reasonably accessible to the applicant even though it is accessible only on payment, and
(b) information is to be taken to be reasonably accessible to the applicant if it is information which the public authority or any other person is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate (otherwise than by making the information available for inspection) to members of the public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), information which is held by a public authority and does not fall within subsection (2)(b) is not to be regarded as reasonably accessible to the applicant merely because the information is available from the public authority itself on request, unless the information is made available in accordance with the authority’s publication scheme and any payment required is specified in, or determined in accordance with, the scheme.”
The information requested in question 6 can be accessed via the following hyperlink –
Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave Policy | Dyfed-Powys Police
Response 2:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
a) Maternity Leave:
2019/20 = 17
2020/21 = 10
2021/22 = 22
2022/23 = 23
2023/24 = 19
b) Paternity Leave:
2019/20 = 7
2020/21 = 12
2021/22 = 5
2022/23 = 12
2023/24 = 6
Please note that some of the above figures may include individuals that have gone onto maternity/paternity more than once.
Response 3:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Maternity:
a) 91 (all individuals)
b) 78 out of 91 remain employed as at 01/05/2026.
Paternity:
a) 42 (all individuals)
b) 32 out of 42 remain employed as at 01/05/2026.
Please note that some of the above figures may include individuals that have gone onto maternity/paternity more than once.
Response 4:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
a) The generic Force Pregnancy RA template is used. I’ve attached our current blank template for pregnancy risk assessments. Just to note, we are currently in the process of fully revamping the template from scratch so the attached version will be obsolete shortly.
b) Force policy is followed. Pregnant individuals working within the Fingerprint Development Unit or CSI are put on restricted duties (within forensics) to eliminate exposure to harmful chemicals and front-line operational risks.
c) As follows:
- Crime Scene Investigation - 0
- Fingerprint Bureau - 3
- Fingerprint Development Unit - 0
- Digital Forensic Unit – 2
d) i) 0
ii) 0
e) A full COSHH list is kept for substances used within forensics, and each one has a COSHH assessment. However, as described above pregnant individuals are put on restricted duties to avoid exposure to these substances.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 22/05/2026)
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