FOI Request 2119

Subject: Management of Policies and Standard Operating Procedures

Status: Complete

Date received: March 2025

Question Asked:

I am writing to submit a Freedom of Information Request regarding the management of policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) within your organisation. I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:

1. The total number of policies currently held by your organisation (if available/known).

2. The number of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines, broken down by category.

3. The percentage of policies that are currently in date.

4. The percentage of processes / SOPs / Guidelines that are currently in date.

5. The system or platform used to store, manage and access policies, SOPs and guidelines.

6. Whether your organisation has a method in place to track the usage and access of policies, SOPs and guidelines.

Our Response:

Please see our response below to the Freedom of Information Request

1. The total number of policies currently held by your organisation (if available/known).

   Approx 1000.

2. The number of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines, broken down by category.

   Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service have a variety of Corporate Documents that range from Policies / Procedures / Standard Operating Procedures / Guidance Documents / Information Notes etc.

3. The percentage of policies that are currently in date.

   Unknown - We are currently undergoing a full review of all Documents, there are currently over 1000 documents to review. The review will capture those documents that require archiving or are out of date.

4. The percentage of processes / SOPs / Guidelines that are currently in date.

   Unknown - We are currently undergoing a full review of all Documents, there are currently over 1000 documents to review. The review will capture those documents that require archiving or are out of date.

5. The system or platform used to store, manage and access policies, SOPs and guidelines.

   These documents currently sit on a SharePoint 2013 solution.

6. Whether your organisation has a method in place to track the usage and access of policies, SOPs and guidelines.

   We have just purchased a new solution that will store, manage and track all these documents using automation. M365 SharePoint Document solution. We estimate that this piece of work to data cleanse and migrate onto our new solution will take a period of 12 - 18 months.

Outcome: Information Provided

FOI responded to within timescales: YES

Further action: NO