Funding Domestic Abuse Unit

1. The amount of money spent by the police force on funding its domestic abuse unit (or equivalent) in the financial years 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12.
2. The amount of money dedicated by the force to tackling domestic abuse, including any prevention programmes, in the financial years 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12?
3. The number of staff working in the force's domestic abuse unit (or equivalent) in the financial years 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12?

In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

Questions 1& 2: There is no information held. Domestic abuse is dealt with as part of the core police function and is not separately funded. Please see a further explanation provided by a Detective Inspector from our Strategic Public Protection Unit.

The Cheshire Constabulary has a Strategic Public Protection Unit that deals with Domestic Abuse strategy / procedure etc.

The Constabulary's 3 BCUs each has a Public Protection Unit that deal with Child Abuse / Domestic Abuse / Vulnerable Adult Abuse / Missing from Home and Registered Sex Offenders. Each PPU also has a Referral Unit which deals with referrals re child abuse etc. from both within the Constabulary and externally

PPU Inspectors will manage all issues relating to child abuse / domestic abuse etc

A number of Sergeants / Constables (identified below) will be responsible for child abuse and domestic abuse investigations. In relation to domestic abuse only those incidents which are 'serious' or the subject of MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference) will be dealt with by PPU officers. Neighbourhood teams and Custody units will deal with the majority of domestic abuse cases. It would therefore be very difficult to give precise info re costs solely related to the amount of money dedicated by the force to tackling domestic abuse

There are 4 multi agency domestic abuse partnerships within the Constabulary area, the Constabulary contributes £9750.00 per annum to each partnership. However, the Constabulary also supports Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester Partnerships by accommodating the partnerships Family Safety Units at two of our police stations. There are a number of other multi agency initiatives the Constabulary contributes to (for example domestic abuse prevention / enforcement programmes at the time of the football World Cup) The Constabulary does not keep detailed easily accessible statistical information re these other initiatives and the overall contribution to responding to / addressing the issues around domestic abuse prevention etc.

Question 3: Please see the attached excel sheet which contains staffing details of the Public Protection Units

FOI 3436 PPU Staff