Cost of keeping sea terminal building open for public use

Summary

The requester asked for the hourly cost of keeping the Sea Terminal building open versus closed to the public, but the Department of Infrastructure could not provide this specific breakdown due to data format limitations. Instead, the authority disclosed estimated annual costs for security, energy, maintenance, and cleaning, while noting that water and building rates are held by the Treasury.

Key Facts

• The Sea Terminal is a government building open for specific purposes rather than a general public facility.
• Staffing costs for administrative staff cannot be broken down as they cover multiple government properties.
• Water and building rates invoices are not held by the Department of Infrastructure as they are sent directly to the Treasury.
• The Department provided estimated annual costs for security, energy, maintenance, and caretaking.
• The request was closed on 7 January 2020 with a partial disclosure outcome.

Data Disclosed

• 1100061
• 2019-12-12
• 2020-01-07
• £612,175
• £124,998
• £101,156
• £262,795
• IM1 2RF
• Freedom of Information Act 2015

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held in a format allowing the specific breakdown requested without considerable analysis
• Invoices for water and building rates not retained by the Department of Infrastructure

Original Request

Can you please give a cost per hour of :- 1) the sea terminal building being open for use by general public. 2) the sea terminal building being closed to the general public.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

Contact: FOI Response Team/LH/LE/MF Telephone: (01624) 686785 Email: dpo-doi@gov.im

Our ref: 1100061 7 January 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 12 December 2019 and which states (sic):

"Can you please give a cost per hour of :- 1) the sea terminal building being open for use by general public. 2) the sea terminal building being closed to the general public."

It is important to be clear that the Sea Terminal is a Government building, open for specific purposes at specific times and is not a 'general public facility'; it is open when sailings are scheduled or the facilities such as Costa, the Welcome Centre etc are open. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance some of the information is not kept in a format which would allow us to answer the question, in the way you request, without considerable analysis and compilation. For example staffing costs have been given for cleaning the building, but there are also administrative staff costs which cannot be broken down because the same staff also look after many other Government properties.
It is also not possible to give a breakdown of costs based on whether or not the building is open to the general public as it is not recorded in a way which would allow this. Clearly however, costs would be lower when the building is closed; heating costs would be reduced, less cleaning would be required etc. For the above reasons please note that the information cannot give a full and accurate picture. The information we are able to provide is shown below. Security costs for a year total £612,175 although it should be noted that some of this expenditure also covers security work at other harbours. Other costs per year (estimated) Energy (some costs are invoiced to the companies that hold lease contracts in the building) £124,998 Maintenance £101,156 Caretaking & cleaning £262,795

While the Department also pays water and building rates, copies of these invoices are not retained by the DOI and are therefore not ‘held’ for the purposes of FOI. They are sent direct to Treasury for payment. If these are of interest, they may be available via a new FOI request to Treasury Please quote the reference number 1100061 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact us. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. We will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

FOI Response Team