Diversity, Equality and Inclusion expenditure

Response

1. DEI/EDI Expenditure and Staffing

For each of the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 (to date):

a) Total expenditure on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI/EDI) initiatives, training, external consultants and related programmes.

 

The information is not held as a discrete, recorded dataset. Underlying financial records exist and, in some cases, have been recorded under the specific categories of ‘Diversity’ or ‘Diversity and Inclusion’. This recorded information has been provided below. However, there may be other expenditure that could be considered relevant to DEI, but which has not been recorded using those terms. Determining relevance in these additional cases would require new information to be created based on interpretation and judgement. The Act does not require us to create new information in this way. Therefore, our response below relates only to expenditure specifically recorded under categories referring to Diversity, Equality and/or Inclusion.

 

Our Finance department have identified relevant expenditure by reviewing costs recorded under the cost centre descriptions, ‘Diversity’ and ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ within the following ledger codes:

 

1. Training/Course Fees
2. Fees & Hired
3. Prof Fees & Consultancy

 

The table below shows the resulting totals, including for the three-year timeframe you have requested:

 

2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24	2024/25	2025/26
£9,775.00	£246,467.00	£53,500.00	£8,080.00	£34,887.00	£52,000.00

 

The total for 2021/22 is higher due to expenditure for the ‘Inclusive Policing with Confidence’ Programme in that year. Inclusive Policing with Confidence was a training package covering a range of protected characteristics including race, disability, neurodiversity. This was delivered to all operational officers and staff.

 

b) Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) officers and staff in dedicated DEI/EDI, equality, diversity or inclusion roles, and the total salary cost of those posts.

 

Insofar as the requested information is suitable for disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, it has been published in response to an earlier request. This can be found via the following link.

 

Diversity and Inclusion officers employed by Avon and Somerset Police | Avon and Somerset Police

 

You will note that exact salary costs have been withheld under Section 40(2) relating to Personal Information. Please see the linked response for further explanation of the application of this exemption.

2. Operational Guidance and Training on Differential Treatment

Copies of any current (or in force during 2024-2025) policies, guidance notes, decision-making frameworks, risk-assessment tools, briefing documents or training materials that instruct, advise or refer to officers giving different weight, priority, credibility or response thresholds in incidents involving protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 (especially race or religion). This includes any material covering:

* Assessing credibility or prioritising response when one party alleges racism, hate crime, racial abuse or discrimination against another;

* Handling competing accounts in violent incidents or public order situations where the suspect/victim dynamic involves different ethnic/religious backgrounds;

* Application of unconscious bias, institutional racism, white privilege or similar concepts to operational decisions (e.g. arrest, handcuffing, victim/suspect assessment).

This specifically includes any updates linked to post-2020 events, College of Policing/NPCC hate crime or bias guidance, or non-crime hate incident processes.

If any documents are voluminous, please provide: (i) a list of document titles and dates, (ii) executive summaries or relevant extracts, and (iii) confirmation whether they remain active.
Provide as much as possible within the appropriate limit and advise on narrowing if needed.

Avon and Somerset Police hold no guidance, policy, training material or decision-making framework that instructs officers to assess the credibility, evidential value or accounts of individuals differently on the basis of race, religion or other protected characteristics. We also hold no guidance directing officers to apply different arrest thresholds, evidential standards, investigative decision-making criteria or credibility assessments because a person possesses a protected characteristic.

 

We do, however, hold information more broadly relevant to your request. This includes operational guidance relating to hate crime investigation and victim care, together with organisational strategies and reports concerning anti-racism, equality, disproportionality and community confidence. These documents address organisational culture, workforce development, community engagement, legitimacy and service improvement. They do not contain guidance instructing officers to apply different evidential, credibility or decision-making standards based on protected characteristics.

 

The relevant information is already reasonably accessible and is therefore exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Relevant information can be found at the links below:

 

Hate crime procedure | Avon and Somerset Police

Relevant sections include those relating to:

3.3 Officer Discretion

4.1 Initial Report and Attendance

4.3 Responding to Hate Incidents

4.4 Risk Assessment

4.6 Victim Care and Initial Needs Assessment

4.9 Suspect Considerations and Arrest

4.18 Gravity factors

Appendix A (perception-based recording rule)

 

Anti-racism strategy 2024-27

Relevant sections include those relating to:

• the force’s anti-racism commitments;

• addressing disproportionality;

• workforce culture and development;

• community confidence and legitimacy;

• delivery and governance arrangements.

 

Further relevant information can be found via the following links. These include both internal and external information:

 

Race Matters | Avon and Somerset Police

Identifying-Disproportionality-Report.pdf

Police Race Action Plan | College of Policing