Minibuses

Summary

The requester asked for specific spending, purchase numbers, running costs, and income figures for Bus Vannin minibuses since 2016. The Department of Infrastructure disclosed that detailed minibus-specific data is not recorded separately from the wider fleet, but provided aggregate bus sub-division expenditure, specific costs for the myProm shuttle, and approximate new vehicle purchase prices.

Key Facts

• Detailed minibus figures cannot be identified separately from the rest of the bus fleet due to mixed duties and internal budget transfers.
• Minibuses are used for a range of services including schools, patient transport, Connect Ports, and Connect Villages.
• The approximate purchase cost for a new minibus is between £50,000 and £60,000 depending on specification.
• Funding for minibus services is largely derived from internal budget transfers rather than commercial invoicing.
• Revenue from non-DHSC patients for minibus services was £4,583 between April and December 2019.

Data Disclosed

• £951,202
• £15,240.02
• £4,583
• £50-60,000
• 1 April 2019 to 31 December 2019
• 1 May to 15 November 2019
• 12 December 2019
• 21 January 2020
• 2016
• 5 manufacturers

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held or cannot be found after taking reasonable steps due to lack of detailed recording

Original Request

Since 2016, how much has the island spent on purchasing minibuses for Bus Vannin? How many minibuses have been bought in this time? What has been the total cost of running the minibuses including maintenance and fuel? What has been the total income for the minibuses in this time, as broken down by financial year?

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

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: 1100161 21 January 2020

Dear ###

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

"What are the annual operating costs to Bus Vannin of operating :- 1. minibus services undertaking patient transport contracts. 2. minibus services undertaking connect ports services. 3. minibus services undertaking the myProm shuttle services. What revenue has been generated for Bus Vannin for undertaking each of these services." While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. This is because some of the information is not recorded at a level of detail which would enable us to identify minibus figures separately from the rest of the bus fleet. The minibus fleet provides a range of services. Some vehicles are used almost exclusively for schools, others are used for transporting patients or clients with special needs, others provide the Connect Ports or Connect Villages services. Most vehicles and drivers will perform a range of duties in the day. Many vehicles will provide more than one service at a time - a Connect Ports service will transport DHSC patients whilst also carrying paying passengers. Much of this work is funded from internal budgets transferred from other Departments. The Department operates minibuses primarily to meet the needs of other Departments, their service users or, in the case of Connect Villages, as public transport. The aim of commercial operations is to generate an income from spare seats to reduce the cost of services that Government needs to operate. We have endeavoured to give as much information as we can, if necessary at a higher level. 1. & 2. For the bus sub-division as a whole, the year to date expenditure (1 April 2019 to 31 December 2019) was £951,202. 3. Costs charged for operating the myProm shuttle service in the period 1 May to 15 November 2019 were £15,240.02 (December figures not yet held).

Revenue 1. No revenue generated as this is covered by a budget transfer from Department of Health & Social Care 2. Revenue from non-DHSC patients was £4,583 from 1 April to 31 December 2019, however this service is predominantly patients with budget transferred internally from DHSCO to cover these costs. 3. No revenue generated as this was a service provided for the myProm team. Please quote the reference number 1100161 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

• Purchase - an approximate purchase cost per new minibus is £50-60,000 depending on specification but it should be borne in mind that we have at least 5 manufacturers of minibuses and that some vehicles were purchased some years ago. • Income – the funding of minibuses is largely from internal budgets. Government policy is that shared services are funded by the transfer of budgets, not by the issuing of invoices.
Should you wish us to try to identify the income from commercial activities that may be possible but we would not, for the reasons given above, be able to identify the matching costs.

Please quote the reference number 735665 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

• Purchase - an approximate purchase cost per new minibus is £50-60,000 depending on specification but it should be borne in mind that we have at least 5 manufacturers of minibuses and that some vehicles were purchased some years ago. • Income – the funding of minibuses is largely from internal budgets. Government policy is that shared services are funded by the transfer of budgets, not by the issuing of invoices.
Should you wish us to try to identify the income from commercial activities that may be possible but we would not, for the reasons given above, be able to identify the matching costs.

Please quote the reference number 735665 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

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

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

Our ref: 1471505 2 October 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 15 September 2020 and which states:

"Since 2016, how much has the island spent on purchasing minibuses for Bus Vannin? How many minibuses have been bought in this time? What has been the total cost of running the minibuses including maintenance and fuel? What has been the total income for the minibuses in this time, as broken down by financial year?"

Our response to your request is as follows:
Please see the 3 attached copies of previous Freedom of Information Requests that are being released to you relating to this request which hold the information you request. We can also confirm that since these responses a further 8 Mercedes Sprinter Transfers have been purchased to replace older vehicles in the fleet. Please quote the reference number 1471505 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