Organisational Structure and Directorate Headcounts

Response

Please see attached the latest organisational structure held. This has been updated since the date of your request, in July 2025.

 

The document shows the broad structure of the organisation and does not list every role within the teams and departments shown.

 

Within this document, names and personal information other than the names of those at the level of Director or Head of Department or equivalent, have been redacted under the following exemption:

 

• Section 40(2) – Personal Information.

 

Section 40 is a class based absolute exemption and there is no requirement to consider the public interest in this case.

 

Any information to which a request relates is exempt if it constitutes personal data and would contravene any of the data protection principles.  Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified directly from the information, or identifiable indirectly in combination with other available information.

 

To disclose the information would identify individuals, which would breach principle 1 (lawfulness, fairness and transparency) of the Data Protection Act 2018. In assessing whether those individuals and employees have a reasonable expectation that their names will not be disclosed, their level of seniority and responsibility has been considered.

 

This serves as a partial refusal notice under section 17(1) of the FOI Act.

 

Please also see below a breakdown of departments by headcount. Please note the following points:

 

• This information is held on a separate system and may not reflect the organisational structure recorded in the organisational chart provided in response to your first question above.
• There is some overlap between the department categories shown – for example, while there are in fact multiple individuals in roles relating to Road Safety, these are recorded within multiple departments on this system, with only one recorded under ‘Road Safety’ specifically.
• The data shows total headcounts of individuals employed, which includes many part-time employees. Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figures for the effective number of full-time employees would be lower.

 

Directorate	Department	Headcount (total individual employees)
3 Chief Constable Group	4 Chief Constable Group	12
3 Chief Constable Group Total		12
3 Chief of Staff	4 Chief of Staff	1
3 Chief of Staff	4 Force Inspection and Crime Standards	94
3 Chief of Staff	4 Performance and Insight	39
3 Chief of Staff	4 Professional Standards	81
3 Chief of Staff	4 Staff Office	7
3 Chief of Staff	4 Strategic Change and Planning	25
3 Chief of Staff Total		247
3 CID	4 CID	804
3 CID Total		804
3 Collaborations Total		739
3 Corporate Communications	4 Corporate Communications	33
3 Corporate Communications Total		33
3 Finance & Business Services	4 Estates Stores and Facilities	72
3 Finance & Business Services	4 FBS Delivery Programme	5
3 Finance & Business Services	4 Finance	65
3 Finance & Business Services	4 Finance and Business Services SLT	2
3 Finance & Business Services	4 Services Hub	130
3 Finance & Business Services	4 Transport	40
3 Finance & Business Services Total		314
3 Information Technology	4 Information Technology	148
3 Information Technology Total		148
3 Legal and Compliance	4 Legal and Compliance	60
3 Legal and Compliance Total		60
3 Neighbourhood and Partnership	4 IOM	131
3 Neighbourhood and Partnership	4 Lighthouse Safeguarding Unit	205
3 Neighbourhood and Partnership	4 Neighbourhood Policing	639
3 Neighbourhood and Partnership	4 Op Remedy	105
3 Neighbourhood and Partnership	4 Road Safety	1
3 Neighbourhood and Partnership Total		1081
3 Office Police and Crime Commissioner	4 Office Police and Crime Commissioner	1
3 Office Police and Crime Commissioner Total		1
3 Operational Support Total		1021
3 Out of Structure	4 Career Break	22
3 Out of Structure	4 Seconded Out	20
3 Out of Structure Total		42
3 People and Organisational Development	4 Health and Safety	1
3 People and Organisational Development	4 HR Operations	56
3 People and Organisational Development	4 Learning	165
3 People and Organisational Development	4 Organisational Development	43
3 People and Organisational Development	4 People and Org Development SLT	14
3 People and Organisational Development	4 Workforce Planning and Resourcing	68
3 People and Organisational Development Total		347
3 Response	4 Command and Control	502
3 Response	4 DIT	163
3 Response	4 Patrol	1125
3 Response Total		1790
Grand Total		6639

 

In the table above, data for operationally sensitive departments has been removed and collapsed into the level of directorate. To avoid revealing the totals of these operationally sensitive departments by omission, directorates for which this is relevant have been provided as overall totals, with all department-level figures removed. This is in accordance with the following exemption:

 

• Section 31(1) (a) and (b) – Law enforcement

 

Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30 is exempt information if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to prejudice:

 

(a) the prevention and detection of crime

(b) the apprehension and prosecution of offenders

 

This is a qualified, prejudice based exemption and therefore there is a requirement to evidence the harm and consider the public interest in disclosure.

 

Harm

Information concerning the number of individuals within operationally sensitive departments or directorates could identify Avon and Somerset Police’s capability and tactics used.

 

Factors favouring disclosure for section 31(1)

There is a public interest in the communities we serve being made aware of the facts relating to this area of policing in order to ensure openness and transparency. Disclosure of this information could go some way to assuring the public that we are appropriately equipped to tackle crime and that ensuring debates surrounding these issues are informed and accurate.

 

Factors favouring non-disclosure for section 31(1)

Releasing this information would reveal the level and of police resources in operationally sensitive areas. This information could enable individuals or groups to become aware of where police resources are engaged and by comparison with equivalent information from other forces, focus their efforts in order to avoid detection. Disclosure would therefore hinder the prevention and detection of crime.

 

Balancing Test

Vital as openness and transparency are for public trust and confidence in the police service, disclosure of information cannot be to the benefit of public trust and confidence in the police where it hinders the prevention and detection of crime. As such, the harms in disclosure not only outweigh but also undermine any purported benefits. For these reasons the argument is weighed clearly in favour of non-disclosure.