Information Commissioner's Decision re Howard Quayle

Summary

The requester sought approval documents for the Coronavirus Strategic Capacity Scheme (Tourist Accommodation) and evidence of Treasury and Council of Ministers concurrence for grant assistance. The Department for Enterprise admitted to procedural breaches and incorrect prior responses, subsequently releasing the requested guidelines, approvals, and communication records.

Key Facts

• The Department for Enterprise admitted it failed to respond within the statutory 20-working-day period and did not apply a section 12 extension.
• The Department acknowledged that information provided in the initial response was incorrect.
• The review resulted in the release of guidelines and approval documents for the Coronavirus Strategic Capacity Scheme (Tourist Accommodation).
• Copies of communications showing Treasury concurrence and Council of Ministers approval for grant assistance were provided.
• Some information was redacted due to personal data or because it was already published via a separate request (ref 2219482).

Data Disclosed

• 2221945
• 2022-02-01
• 2022-07-22
• 20 working days
• 2022-03-01
• 2022-04-13
• 42 days
• 2219482
• SD 2020/0156
• 28 pages
• 2 documents

Exemptions Cited

• Personal information
• Information already published

Original Request

Please let me have - 1. a copy of the Coronavirus Strategic Capacity Scheme (Tourist Accommodation) as approved by the Department and signed by the Minister; and 3. copies of the concurrence of the Treasury and the Council of Ministers to the amount of the grant assistance provided for under the scheme as required by paragraph 7 of the the Coronavirus Business Support Scheme 2020 - SD 2020/0156

Data Tables (5)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator 1st Floor, St Georges Court Upper Church Street, Douglas Isle of Man IM1 1EX

Telephone: (01624 686400) Website: https://www.iomdfenterprise.im/

Our ref: 2221945 22 July 2022

Dear ###,

We write further to your initial request which was received on 1 February 2022 and which states:

"Please let me have - 1. a copy of the Coronavirus Strategic Capacity Scheme (Tourist Accommodation) as approved by the Department and signed by the Minister; and 3. copies of the concurrence of the Treasury and the Council of Ministers to the amount of the grant assistance provided for under the scheme as required by paragraph 7 of the the Coronavirus Business Support Scheme 2020 - SD 2020/0156" Your review request: My Request for Information was made on the 1st February 2022. The standard processing period under section 12 of the FOIA for responding to my Request is 20 working days; which expired on the 1st March 2022. The Department responded to my Request on the 13th April 2022 but didn't notify me during the standard processing period that it was "engaging" an extension of that period under section 13 of the FOIA. The Department was, therefore, in breach of section 12 of the FOIA for a period of 42 days. I'm requesting a Review of the Department's Response because in its Response the Department makes statements in both Part 1 and Part 2 but it hasn't provided me with the information which I requested. In relation to Response 1 whether or not the Coronavirus Strategic Capacity Scheme (Tourist Accommodation) ""CSCSTA") is a strand of financial assistance, it is nevertheless described as a "Scheme" on the Department's website and there must, therefore be an audit trail to show how such scheme came into being, which ought to have been approved by the Department and signed by the Minister., If the Scheme hasn't been approved by the Department and signed by the Minister then the Department should say so. In relation to Response 2 the Department has confirmed that it received the

concurrence of the Treasury and the approval of the Council of Ministers to the payments grant assist stance, payable under the CSCTA, but it hasn't provided me with copies of such concurrence or approval.

Our response to your request is as follows: Firstly, let me apologise for the time taken to complete the review, unfortunately a number of staff involved are no longer within the Department and this added to the time required for completion. The review has identified that the information was not supplied to you within the statutory processing period, nor was a section 12 extension applied. When provided with information, the information provided to you was also found to be incorrect. As such, please find attached information held by the Department at the time of your original request: Review Annex A) A copy of the guidelines for the Coronavirus Strategic Capacity Scheme (Tourist Accommodation) and a copy of the approvals for those guidelines held by the Department; and Review Annex B) Copies of communications showing the provision of Treasury concurrence and also approval of the Council of Ministers to the grant assistance under the Scheme at each iteration of the Scheme. Information not relevant to the information requested has been redacted from the documents provided along with any information which could be classed as personal information and for which there is no legitimate reason for release. Documentation already published has not been provided, these have been provided in response to an earlier Freedom of Information request to the Cabinet Office that can be found on the disclosure log at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of- information/search with a reference number 2219482 or by typing “Information Commissioner's Decision re Howard Quayle” into the search function. I have enclosed copies of the information that is being released to you.

Please quote the reference number 2221945 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 Freedom of Information Officer

Stewart, Andrew From: Sent: To: Subject: Attachments: Sensitivity: For the file From: Sent: 31 March 2020 13:50 Lewin, Mark 31 March 2020 14:17 Stewart, Andrew; Hawker, Carl FW: Result - Council e-Vote 2020/119' - Preserving Capacity - Tourist Accommodation 2020 03 31 - DfE - 119 - COVID 19 - Preserving Capacity - Tourist Accommodation.pdf Confidential To: Lewin, Mark; Stewart, Andrew Cc: Greenhow, Will ; Subject: Result - Council e-Vote 2020/119 - Preserving Capacity- Tourist Accommodation Sensitivity: Confidential RESULT: COUNCIL e-Vote 2020/119 -Preserving Capacity-Tourist Accommodation Dear Mark, Andrew cc. Will At 31.03.2020 (13.48pm) the result is: COUNCIL e-Vote: 2020/119 - Preserving Capacity-Tourist Accommodation 1. MIN DOI -approve 2. MIN DESC-approve 3. MIN DHSC - approve 4. MIN P&R -await reply, query raised 5. MIN DEFA-approve 6. CM - N/A [declared interest] 7. MIN TRE - await reply 8. MIN DfE - approve 9. MIN DHA - approve An e-Minute has been prepared. Regards