FOI 1345-2025/26- Trauma informed practices

Request:

Q1. Does your force offer training focused on building rapport and adopting trauma-informed practices during victim interviews?

Q2. Which personnel within the force are eligible to receive this training?

Q3. Are there any PowerPoint presentations or training documents associated with this training that you could provide?

Response: 

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

Q1. Yes, training is delivered as per the College of Policing’s National Policing Curriculum (NPC) for the Police Constable Entry Routes (PCER). It is part of Communication Skills and Protecting the Public topics of the NPC. It is also included in the Specialist Sexual Assault Investigators Development Programme (SSAIDP), Specialist Child Abuse Investigators Development Programme (SCAIDP)

Q2. All officers joining as new students receive the PCER training. Officers in specialist Detective Constable roles receive the SSAIDP / SCAIDP training

Q3. I am exempting any information to this part of the request pursuant to Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. Please see exemption explanation below.

Section 43(2) – Commercial Interests

Section 43 is a qualified, class-based exemption and I am therefore required to carry out a public interest test to balance the legitimate interests of the public in knowing the information against the interests of non-disclosure.

Reasons for disclosure

There is a public interest in police forces being open and transparent about the training that their officers are receiving, particularly paid for funding as equally, there is a public interest in how police forces are spending public money. A disclosure would therefore promote this transparency and show the public what North Yorkshire Police officers are being taught about trauma-informed practices.

Reasons against disclosure

The training requested is provided by a third party, namely the College of Policing. They produce bespoke training packages specifically for police forces which North Yorkshire Police have a licence to use and to deliver to police officers. To disclose the contents of these training packages to the world would mean that other training providers could use these materials to create their own packages which would be in breach of The College of Policing’s intellectual property rights and therefore detrimental to their commercial interests. Furthermore, any such sharing would be in breach of North Yorkshire Police’s licence with the College which could result in the College taking litigation proceedings against the force which would have a negative commercial impact on us.

Balancing Test

After considering the reasons for and against disclosure, it is my opinion that the reasons for non-disclosure outweigh the reasons for disclosure.

If you wish to seek disclosure of this information you will need to submit an FOI request directly to the College of Policing.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to part of your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.