FOI 0998-2024/25- Grievances

Request:

Q1. The total number of grievances formally raised within your force in each of the last four calendar years (e.g., 2021–2024), with a breakdown as follows:

• Grievances submitted by police officers.
• Grievances submitted by police staff.

Q2. A breakdown of grievance types or categories (e.g., bullying, discrimination, harassment, etc.) for each year.

Grievance Management:

Q3. A copy of your current grievance policy or procedure document.

Q4. Details of any alternative resolution mechanisms (e.g., mediation, informal resolution) used by your force and their frequency of use in grievance cases.

Q5. Any training provided to managers or staff to prevent or resolve grievances.

Workforce Size and Context:

Q6. The total number of police officers, police staff, and special constables in each of the past five calendar years to provide context for the grievance figures.

Response:

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

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

Decision

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

Q1. Please see the table below showing the total number of grievances raised within force between 2021 to 2024, broken down by calendar year and role.

Q2. Please see the table below showing the grievance types between 2021 to 2024, broken down by grievance reason. I am exempting a yearly breakdown pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please see exemption explanation below.

Q3.  The information you have requested is published on the North Yorkshire Police website under the following link:

grievance-procedure.pdf

I have therefore decided to exempt providing you with a response to question 3 pursuant to Section 21 Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please see the exemption explanation below.

Q4 & Q5. North Yorkshire Police use mediation, formal resolution, facilitated conversations. Training is provided regarding difficult conversations and first/mid line leader management courses.

Q6.  Please see the table below showing the total number of police officers, police staff and special contables as of the 01 January of each calendar year requested.

Exemption Explanation

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire 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.

Section 21 – Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

Section 21 is an absolute class based exemption and I am not required to consider the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

Section 40 – Personal Information

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights

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 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.