Financial Assistance Support Schemes

Summary

The requester asked for a list of beneficiaries and payment amounts for the Salary Support Scheme, but the Department for Enterprise stated it does not hold this information as the scheme was administered by the Treasury.

Key Facts

• The Department for Enterprise does not administer the Salary Support Scheme (SSS).
• Information regarding the SSS is held by the Treasury, not the Department for Enterprise.
• The Department reports lists of beneficiaries for the Financial Assistance Scheme, Town and Village Regeneration Scheme, and Enterprise Development Scheme in its Annual Report.
• There is no instruction for the Department to report a list of businesses or individuals for the Coronavirus Business Support Scheme 2020.
• The outcome of the request was that some information was sent but not all was held.

Data Disclosed

• 2240705
• 2022-02-04
• 2022-02-25
• 2020
• 2021
• 29 January 2022
• 2020/2021
• Enterprise Act 2008

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held by the public authority

Original Request

Records of beneficiaries of the salary support scheme, and the amounts paid to each beneficiary By "records" I mean as defined in the Freedom of Information Act ("the act"). By "beneficiaries" I mean the organisations that benefited from payments By "the salary support scheme" I mean all iterations (in both 2020 and 2021 calendar years) of the program outlined here: https://covid19.gov.im/media/1120/salary-support-scheme-guidance-final-revised-17.pdf By "amounts paid" I mean the sum paid to each individual organisation. In accordance with the act, I ask that the information be provided to me in a spreadsheet format (MS Excel spreadsheet; Open Document spreadsheet; Comma separated value sheet) and *not* portable document format. I note that in a press release [1] dated 29 January 2022, the Department claimed that "In addition, the Department publishes a report each year listing all businesses who have been provided support under its Financial Assistance Support Schemes in the ordinary course of business." I note that the The Enterprise Act 2008 Annual Report for 2020/2021 [2] does not include any such listing of the beneficiaries of the Salary Support Scheme, or any of the COVID schemes (let alone records of the individual amounts paid to each recipient request above). [1] See here: https://www.gov.im/news/2022/jan/29/department-for-enterprise-responds-to-information-commissioners-ruling/ [2] See here: https://www.tynwald.org.im/business/opqp/sittings/20212026/2021-GD-0084.pdf

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

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

Telephone: (01624 682381) Website: www.gov.im/ded Email: anthony.walker@gov.im

Our ref: 2240705 24 February 2022

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 4 February 2022 and which states:

"Records of beneficiaries of the salary support scheme, and the amounts paid to each beneficiary By "records" I mean as defined in the Freedom of Information Act ("the act"). By "beneficiaries" I mean the organisations that benefited from payments By "the salary support scheme" I mean all iterations (in both 2020 and 2021 calendar years) of the program outlined here: https://covid19.gov.im/media/1120/salary- support-scheme-guidance-final-revised-17.pdf By "amounts paid" I mean the sum paid to each individual organisation. In accordance with the act, I ask that the information be provided to me in a spreadsheet format (MS Excel spreadsheet; Open Document spreadsheet; Comma separated value sheet) and not portable document format. I note that in a press release [1] dated 29 January 2022, the Department claimed that "In addition, the Department publishes a report each year listing all businesses who have been provided support under its Financial Assistance Support Schemes in the ordinary course of business." I note that the The Enterprise Act 2008 Annual Report for 2020/2021 [2] does not include any such listing of the beneficiaries of the Salary Support Scheme, or any of the COVID schemes (let alone records of the individual amounts paid to each recipient request above). [1] See here: https://www.gov.im/news/2022/jan/29/department-for-enterprise- responds-to-information-commissioners-ruling/ [2] See here: https://www.tynwald.org.im/business/opqp/sittings/20212026/2021-GD- 0084.pdf"

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. The Salary Support Scheme (SSS) was not administered by the Department for Enterprise and as such the information you seek is not held, you may however wish to contact the Treasury. With regards to second part of your request; The Department does report a list of companies who have received support under the Financial Assistance Scheme within the Enterprise Act 2008 Annual Report to Tynwald. It also reports the list of businesses that have received funding from the Town and Village Regeneration Scheme and the Enterprise Development Scheme within this report as it is instructed to do so under the relevant Tynwald Schemes. The Department does not report on all of its support schemes as it is not required to do so, as the amounts are nominal and many are paid to individuals rather than businesses. Although not required to, the Department did include statistics within the Enterprise Act 2008 Annual Report 2020/21 for the Department run Covid-19 support schemes and the other smaller schemes it administers, to demonstrate the Department’s overall efforts to assist businesses. The Covid-19 Support Schemes that the Department administer are under the Coronavirus Business Support Scheme 2020, there are no instructions for the Department for Enterprise to report a list of businesses or individuals who have received funding under this Tynwald Scheme. The Salary Support Scheme, as stated above, is not administered by the Department therefore, it would not appear in the Department for Enterprise’s Enterprise Act 2008 Annual Report to Tynwald. Please quote the reference number 2240705 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.