mobile telephone data roaming costs

Authority	Cabinet Office
Date received	2022-01-18
Outcome	Information not held
Outcome date	2022-02-14
Case ID	2201261

Summary

A request for the top 10 mobile telephone data roaming costs by department for financial years 2017/18 to 2019/20 was refused by the Cabinet Office. The authority stated that extracting this data would require substantial compilation of information, which is not required under the Freedom of Information Act.

Key Facts

The Cabinet Office refused the request because complying would require substantial compilation or collation of information.
Government Technology Services receives monthly PDF invoices containing 170 pages of mobile device usage data.
The Treasury accesses an electronic portal with spreadsheets containing approximately 200,000 rows of usage data.
The request covered financial years 2017/18, 2018/19, and 2019/20.
The applicant was advised to contact The Treasury as they may be able to assist with the data.

Data Disclosed

2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
170 pages
200,000 rows
2022-01-18
2022-02-14
2201261

Exemptions Cited

Substantial compilation or collation of information

Original Request

What were the top 10 mobile telephone bills re data roaming costs (total cost if not available separately) by department office agency etc in each month in financial years 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 and, given individuals that highlighted concerns about excessive and/or inappropriate mobile data roaming were ordered to cover up politically sensitive information, what efforts if any were made to calculate and recover any contributions to the bills?

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: 2201261 14 February 2022

Dear ###,

We write further to your request which was received on 18 January 2022 and which states:

"What were the top 10 mobile telephone bills re data roaming costs (total cost if not available separately) by department office agency etc in each month in financial years 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 and, given individuals that highlighted concerns about excessive and/or inappropriate mobile data roaming were ordered to cover up politically sensitive information, what efforts if any were made to calculate and recover any contributions to the bills?"

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, complying with your request for information would require the Cabinet Office to undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds which the Cabinet Office is not required to do under the Act. For context, on a monthly basis Government Technology Services receives and pays an invoice in pdf format from our supplier containing a list of all mobile devices and the usage for that device (170 pages). To try and extract information from these would require the information transcribing from paper to electronic medium and then manipulated.
As part of the mobile telephony contract, our supplier also provides access to an electronic portal which contains usage and cost figures to which Treasury have access. On a monthly basis they download the usage figures for all mobile phones in Isle of Man Government. The download is a spreadsheet which contains approximately 200,000 rows, with multiple rows per mobile device. They then extract cost information to send to Statutory Boards and Offices to enable Treasury to recharge these business areas for mobile usage. To provide the information requested from these spreadsheets would require substantial compilation or collation of information. You may wish to contact The Treasury who may be able to help you:

The Treasury Head Office 3rd Floor Government Offices Bucks Road Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3PZ

Please quote the reference number 2201261 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.