FOI 699/26
Request
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Response
We have consulted with our Corporate Finance Department and Communities, Partnerships and Cohesion Team who have provided the following information in relation to your request.
Question 1a
Total revenue expenditure for EDI related expenditure:
|
Year |
Expenditure |
|
23/24 |
264,763.93 |
|
24/25 |
229,894.32 |
|
25/26 |
174,888.95 |
The costs above are all costs associated with EDI so would include training, external consultants, and related programmes. It excludes payroll related costs as these are addressed in part 1b.
Question 1b
|
Year |
Full Time Equivalent |
Expenditure |
|
23/24 |
20 |
988,518.32 |
|
24/25 |
25 |
1,187,845.36 |
|
25/26 |
21 |
967,085.81 |
South Wales Police does not hold any policies, guidance, decision-making frameworks or training materials that instruct officers or staff to give different weight, priority, credibility or response thresholds to individuals based on protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
Operational policing is conducted in line with national guidance, including that issued by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). This includes the National Decision Model and national hate crime guidance.
Under these frameworks:
- Hate crimes and incidents are defined as any crime or incident where the perpetrator’s hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group is a factor in determining who is targeted.
- Where a victim, or any other person, perceives that an incident has been motivated by hostility or prejudice, it should be recorded and flagged appropriately.
- Officers and staff are required to establish the relevant facts, as they would for any incident or crime.
Operational decisions are made on the basis of the evidence available at the time and in accordance with national policing standards, with the response determined by an assessment of risk, threat, harm and available resources.
South Wales Police does not hold any guidance instructing officers or staff to assign differing credibility to individuals or to prioritise response based on protected characteristics. Officers are required to assess incidents based on the available evidence and follow established investigative and evidential procedures.
The force does not hold guidance directing officers or staff to treat individuals differently based on ethnicity, religion or any other protected characteristic when managing incidents involving competing accounts. In all cases, officers are required to consider all available evidence, apply the National Decision Model and act in accordance with legal and national policing standards.
Training relating to equality, diversity and inclusion may include awareness of unconscious bias to support officers and staff in recognising and mitigating potential bias and reinforcing expectations of fairness, integrity and impartiality in decision-making.
The force does not hold any training or guidance that instructs officers or staff to apply concepts such as unconscious bias, institutional racism or white privilege in a way that alters evidential assessment, credibility or operational thresholds.
South Wales Police follows national guidance issued by the College of Policing and the NPCC, including guidance relating to hate crime and non-crime hate incidents. These frameworks provide principles for recording incidents, supporting victims and ensuring consistent and lawful policing practice. They do not instruct officers to apply differential treatment to individuals based on protected characteristics.
No documents have been identified that meet the specific description set out in your request.