OHR legal qualifications and training

Summary

The request sought details on OHR employees' legal qualifications, reliance on legal opinions, and tracking of whistleblowing concerns. The authority disclosed that OHR regularly seeks legal opinions but does not hold data on employee legal qualifications or recorded whistleblowing trends.

Key Facts

• OHR employees do not require legal qualifications for their roles.
• The Cabinet Office does not process or hold data on legal qualifications held by OHR staff as they are not essential requirements.
• OHR regularly seeks and follows legal opinion from HM Attorney General Chambers.
• OHR does not record, categorise, or track confidential enquiries regarding whistleblowing concerns.
• Confidential support information is not shared with employers or the Attorney General without the individual's consent.

Data Disclosed

• 1815533
• 2021-05-31
• 2021-06-10
• 14 June 2021
• 3 pages
• 1 document

Original Request

To what extent do any OHR employees, itemised, anonymised by grade or summarised, have any law certificates, diplomas, degrees, training, placements and/or specific formal legal system professional development via induction, elearning, the Law Society or law firms; to what extent does OHR rely on legal opinion from HM Attorney General chambers; to what extent is any confidential support to employees such as whistleblowing concerns recorded, categorised, tracked as public sector trends and visible to employers via employer logins or shared with the employer and/or with the HM Attorney General chambers before and after employment ceases?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Government Office Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3PN Telephone: (+44) 01624 686244 Website: www.gov.im/co

Our ref: 1815533 14 June 2021

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 31 May 2021 and which states:

"To what extent do any OHR employees, itemised, anonymised by grade or summarised, have any law certificates, diplomas, degrees, training, placements and/or specific formal legal system professional development via induction, elearning, the Law Society or law firms; to what extent does OHR rely on legal opinion from HM Attorney General chambers; to what extent is any confidential support to employees such as whistleblowing concerns recorded, categorised, tracked as public sector trends and visible to employers via employer logins or shared with the employer and/or with the HM Attorney General chambers before and after employment ceases?"

Our response to your request is as follows: “To what extent do any OHR employees, itemised, anonymised by grade or summarised, have any law certificates, diplomas, degrees, training, placements and/or specific formal legal system professional development via induction, elearning, the Law Society or law firms;” While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Cabinet Office does not hold the information that you have requested. The Office of Human Resources employees do not require legal qualifications for their roles. Some roles require professional qualification, such as a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) qualification or equivalent. We would only check qualifications as part of the pre-employment check if they were relevant for the role i.e. an essential requirement. If any of our officers do hold such a qualification, it is not required for their employment and therefore we don’t process that data. “to what extent does OHR rely on legal opinion from HM Attorney General chambers;” The Office of Human Resources (OHR) regularly seeks and follows legal opinion from HM Attorney General Chambers. OHR provide advice to the Isle of Man Government employers or stationed employers, it would be for the Department or Board or Office to determine what action they take.

“to what extent is any confidential support to employees such as whistleblowing concerns recorded, categorised, tracked as public sector trends and visible to employers via employer logins or shared with the employer and/or with the HM Attorney General chambers before and after employment ceases?”. This information is not held. OHR do not record, categorise or track confidential enquiries made by employees in relation to whistleblowing concerns. If confidential support is sought from OHR, such as an employee with whistleblowing concerns, this information is not recorded or shared with the employer or the Attorney General’s Chambers without the consent of the individual concerned. OHR would provide advice to an employee on the application of Isle of Man Government policies.

Please quote the reference number 1815533 in any future communications.

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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