Country side payments

Summary

The requester asked for total payments, land names, and recipient details for countryside payments over the last 12 months. The authority provided links to aggregate statistics but refused to disclose specific land names and recipient identities due to practical refusal grounds and personal data exemptions.

Key Facts

• Aggregate payment data for the Agricultural Development Scheme is available on the government website.
• Specific land names could not be linked definitively to payments as they are calculated on a per-acre basis.
• Recipient names and payment amounts were withheld as personal data under absolute exemption.
• The request was received on 2020-02-24 and the response was issued on 2020-03-03.
• The case outcome was recorded as 'Not upheld' on 2020-04-20.

Data Disclosed

• 2020-02-24
• 2020-03-03
• 2020-04-20
• 1193749
• 2019/20
• s.25
• section 8(3)

Exemptions Cited

• Section 8(3) - Practical refusal (creating or deriving information)
• Section 25 - Absolutely exempt personal information

Original Request

How much has been paid out to the occupiers " approved farmers who qualifie for country side payments" for the last 12 months? The name of the land it applied to? The name of the recipient who received it and how much?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator Corporate Services Directorate Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road, St John’s, Isle of Man, IM4 3AS Tel no (01624) 685854 Fax no (01624 685851 Email: defa@gov.im www.gov.im

Our ref: 1193749 3rd March 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 24th February 2020 and which states:

"How much has been paid out to the occupiers " approved farmers who qualifie for country side payments" for the last 12 months? The name of the land it applied to? The name of the recipient who received it and how much?"

Our response to your request is as follows: I have detailed below the information. 1. How much has been paid out to the occupiers” approved farmers who qualified for country side payments” for the last 12 months? A summary breakdown of the Agricultural Development Scheme (formally Countryside Care Scheme) payments is publically available using this hyperlink https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/environment-food-and- agriculture/agriculture-directorate/agriculture-statistics/ We are still in the 2019/20 Scheme year. That information will be published in the same place when it is available. Further agricultural statistics are available on the Department’s website using this hyperlink https://www.gov.im/categories/business-and- industries/agriculture/agricultural-development-scheme/payments/breakdown-of- payments/ 2. The name of the land it applied to? While we hold the names of much of the land the information is not held in a way that it can be definitively linked to payments and would therefore not answer your request. The land names we hold may or may not be linked to individual ADS payments and we have no way of definitively knowing which is the case for every area of land.

Payments made under the ADS are made on a land measured basis and are governed by eligible area of each individual parcel. Many businesses both large and small, have land that can be spread over wide areas. We therefore cannot identify the amounts paid to individual areas of land under the ADS as they are paid “per acre”. This part of your request is therefore refused on the grounds that a practical refusal reason applies; namely that “complying with the request for information would require the public authority to do one or more of the matters mentioned in section 8(3) (things a public authority is not required to do by the Act)”, specifically, to “create or derive information from information that it holds”. 3. The name of the recipient who received it and how much? This information is withheld under absolute exemption s.25 (Absolutely exempt personal information) as it constitutes personal data of which the applicant (you) are not the data subject and the disclosure of information would not be fair to those data subjects. ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person and includes any indication of the intentions of the controller or any other person in respect of the individual. The information comprises of the personal data of the land owners and payment recipients. Please quote the reference number 1193749 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 me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely