Organisation, costs and income of Comis repatriation

Summary

A request for details on the Comis Hotel quarantine scheme was partially fulfilled, disclosing the contract start date, total payments made, and guest numbers, while withholding specific cost breakdowns and weekly statistics due to commercial sensitivity and practical refusal grounds.

Key Facts

• The Department for Enterprise made the initial approach to hotels, not the Department of Infrastructure.
• The contract with the Comis Hotel commenced on 15 April 2020.
• The total amount paid to the Comis Hotel as of 8 July 2020 was £94,830.70.
• 112 individuals stayed at the hotel, comprising 110 adults, 1 child, and 1 baby.
• There was no cost to the Government for the fencing around the hotel.

Data Disclosed

• 15 April 2020
• 8 July 2020
• £94,830.70
• 112
• 110 adults
• 1 child
• 1 baby

Exemptions Cited

• Section 30 (Commercial interests)
• Section 11(3) (Practical refusal reason: substantial compilation or collation)
• Section 25 (Personal data)

Original Request

I am requesting the following information in respect of the IoM residents returning to the IoM and being quarantined in the Comis Hotel: Which hotels were approached for the scheme? On what date were they approached? When was the Comis Hotel appointed? What was the amount per person per day agreed with the Comis Hotel? What is the total amount that the government paid the Comis Hotel to date? Itemise the amounts by categories e.g. Amount for accommodation and food Security (exclude the police presence on day one) Fencing (now being used by the Comis Hotel) Coaches Anything else? How many individuals have stayed at the Comis Hotel? How many people days in total? How many people by week? Income received by returnees for their stay at the Comis Hotel? To include those who paid in full and those who are paying in stages/monthly.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

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

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

Our ref: 1355441 10 July 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 7 July 2020 and which states (sic), numbered for ease of reference:

"I am requesting the following information in respect of the IoM residents returning to the IoM and being quarantined in the Comis Hotel: 1. Which hotels were approached for the scheme? 2. On what date were they approached? 3. When was the Comis Hotel appointed? 4. What was the amount per person per day agreed with the Comis Hotel? 5. What is the total amount that the government paid the Comis Hotel to date? Itemise the amounts by categories e.g. 6. Amount for accommodation and food 7. Security (exclude the police presence on day one) 8. Fencing (now being used by the Comis Hotel) 9. Coaches 10. Anything else? 11. How many individuals have stayed at the Comis Hotel? 12. How many people days in total? 13. How many people by week? 14. Income received by returnees for their stay at the Comis Hotel? To include those who paid in full and those who are paying in stages/monthly."

Our response to your questions is as follows. 1. and 2. The Department for Enterprise made the initial approach to hotels for the provision of this service; you may therefore wish to submit a separate FOI request to them. 3. The contract with the Comis Hotel started on 15 April 2020. 5. The total amount that the Department of Infrastructure paid to the Comis Hotel as at 8 July 2020 was £94,830.70.

4, 6, 7 and 9. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in these instances the Department believes that details of fees are exempt from disclosure under section 30 of the Act. Section 30 of the Act applies in instances where it would prejudice the commercial interests of an organisation(s). We are satisfied that disclosing the cost may give any contractors who subsequently submit to any future tenders an advantage over other contractors. Section 30 of the Act is a qualified exemption and therefore subject to both public interest and prejudice tests. These are summarised below: Factors in favour of disclosure: • Transparency of Government spending Factors in favour of maintaining the exemption: • While commercial sensitivity may reduce over time, the pandemic is still a live situation, and the information therefore remains current. • Disclosure would affect the organisations’ abilities to participate competitively in commercial activities via any future tender processes whether for provision of the same or other services. • The concerns of the participating organisations are demonstrated by the inclusion of Confidentiality and Non-Dislosure Clauses in contracts. • Disclosure would cause reputational damage to the Department of Infrastructure with contractors. • Disclosure would affecting future working relationships because of lack of confidence of businesses in the Department’s ability to maintain confidentiality. • This would further affect the ability to tender competitively where public funds are involved, thus adversely affecting the Island’s economy. In taking these factors into account the Department determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information. 8. There was no cost to Government for the fencing around the Comis Hotel. 10. The Department is unable to supply information that has not clearly been specified. 11. 112 people stayed at the Comis Hotel; 110 adults, 1 child and 1 baby. 12, 13 and 14. Section 11(3) practical refusal reason (b) of the Act referencing s8(3), states that “a public authority is not required to create or derive information from the information that it holds; undertake research into, or analysis of, information that it holds; or undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds”.

The Department does not record the information you have requested in these 3 questions in a format which allows us to provide the breakdown you are asking for.
In addition, for question 14 we would not release information which, when combined with a small amount of publically available information, may enable the identification of some of the individuals concerned. This would make the information absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act. The reasons why that exemption applies are that: 1. The Department is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and 2. The Department is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that the Department can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6. In this case, none of those conditions have been met Please quote the reference number 1355441 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 us and we 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