Reports of damp in public sector housing

Summary

The requester asked for the number of damp reports in public sector housing over the past five years. The Department of Infrastructure disclosed data only for the current financial year, citing the inability to manually compile historical records without substantial effort.

Key Facts

• Historical data for the past five years was not provided because it would require manually checking hundreds of individual maintenance reports.
• A new recording system implemented in April 2020 allows for automatic searching of maintenance reports.
• The response covers only public sector housing owned by the Department of Infrastructure, excluding Local Authority properties.
• All reported damp issues in the current period have been addressed and treated where found.
• The request was formally closed on 29 January 2021.

Data Disclosed

• 13 properties
• 1,260 public sector properties
• 14 December 2020
• 29 January 2021
• April 2020
• 1600949

Exemptions Cited

• Substantial compilation or collation of information exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2015

Original Request

This request is for information on the number of reports that have been made in respect to damp in public sector housing over each of the past 5 years.

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: 1600949 29 January 2021

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 14 December 2020 and which states:

"This request is for information on the number of reports that have been made in respect to damp in public sector housing over each of the past 5 years." Our aim is to provide information whenever possible. However, prior to the current financial year, the Department of Infrastructure recorded all reports of maintenance issues for its public sector housing stock in a manner that would require manually checking the detail of every individual maintenance report in order to determine the number of reports of damp. The Department receives hundreds of maintenance reports for its housing stock every year. As such, the Department is unable to provide the information requested for previous financial years as the Act states that “nothing in this Act requires a public authority to… undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds”. However, the Department began recording its maintenance reports in a different manner at the start of April 2020, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has meant that for the current financial year, the Department has been able to search automatically for any report which mentions damp in the details reported by the tenant. As such, the Department can confirm it has received reports at 13 properties of what the tenants believed to be possible damp across its 1,260 public sector properties during the current financial year to date. Each of these reports has been dealt with as appropriate and where damp has been found in the property it has been treated. The above information relations to public sector housing belonging to the Department of Infrastructure only, we cannot provide information about properties owned by other housing providers such as Local Authorities- this would need to be requested to those Local Authorities directly. Please quote the reference number 1600949 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