Unpublished Responses to FOIA Requests

Summary

The request sought unpublished FOIA responses from the Public Sector Pensions Authority, specifically regarding pension payouts for MHK/MLC members and injury awards for former police officers. The authority disclosed total payout figures and recipient counts for pensions, as well as the total number of police injury award recipients, but withheld data broken down by specific bands or review types.

Key Facts

• In the 2018/2019 financial year, £960,132.96 was paid in pensions to 46 retired MHK/MLC members.
• As of 1st April 2020, 59 former Isle of Man Constabulary police officers were in receipt of injury awards.
• The PSPA does not hold information collated by band for police injury awards.
• Data on Regulation 37(1) reviews and Regulation 32 reconsiderations was withheld as it is personal to individuals.
• The response was issued by Chief Executive Officer Ian T Murray.

Data Disclosed

• £960,132.96
• 46
• 2018/2019
• 59
• 1st April 2020
• 2017
• 2018
• 2019
• Band1 - Band4
• Regulation 37(1)
• Regulation 32

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held or cannot be found after reasonable steps
• Data is personal to an individual

Original Request

Please provide copies of Responses made by you in relation to Requests for Information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 ("FOIA") , which you haven't included in the Disclosure Log here - https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/search from when the FOIA was introduced under the Appointed Day Order here - https://www.tynwald.org.im/links/tls/SD/2015-SD-0264.pdf to date.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Chief Executive Officer Ian T Murray BCom (Hons), APMI 3rd Floor Prospect House 27-29 Prospect Hill Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1ET E-mail: pensions@pspa.im Website: www.pspa.im

Our ref: 1148725 30 January 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 24 January 2020 and which states:

"How much is paid out in pensions to retired M.H.K/M.L.C members each year and the number of recipients Thank you,"

Our response to your request is as follows: I have detailed below the information that is being released to you. In the year financial year 2018/2019, £960,132.96 was paid out in pensions to 46 retired M.H.K/M.L.C members.

Please quote the reference number 1148725 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

Chief Executive Officer Ian T Murray BCom (Hons), APMI 3rd Floor Prospect House 27-29 Prospect Hill Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1ET E-mail: pensions@pspa.im Website: www.pspa.im

Our ref: 1264545 6 May 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 15 April 2020 and which states:

"(1) As of 1st April 2020 what is the total number of former Isle of Man Constabulary police officers in receipt of injury awards in accordance with police pension and police injury benefit regulations? (2) As of 1st April 2020 what is the total number of former Isle of Man Constabulary police officers in receipt of injury awards in accordance with police pension and police injury benefit regulations in each of the 4 bands Band1 - Band4? (3) Broken down by year and banding how many regulation 37(1) reviews were conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in each of the 4 bands Band1 - Band4? (4) Broken down by year and banding how many regulation 32 reconsiderations were conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in each of the 4 bands Band1 - Band4?"

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 PSPA do not hold information collated by band or collate data on reviews as this is information that is personal to an individual.

I have detailed below the information that is held. As of 1st April 2020 the total number of former Isle of Man Constabulary police officers in receipt of injury awards in accordance with police pension and police injury benefit regulations is 59

Please quote the reference number 1264545 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

Chief Executive Officer Ian T Murray BCom (Hons), APMI 3rd Floor Prospect House 27-29 Prospect Hill Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1ET E-mail: pensions@pspa.im Website: www.pspa.im

Our ref: 1264545 9 June 2020

Dear ###

Information requested by: ###

Summary of Process 1. Request received: 15th April 2020 2. Response sent: 6th May 2020 2. Review requested: 7th May 2020

Review of Response

I write with regard to the Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted to the Public Sector Pensions Authority (the PSPA) on 15th April 2020, the response from Mrs Mooney sent to you on 6th May 2020 and your subsequent request dated 7th May 2020 for an internal review by the PSPA of the response provided on the 6th May 2020. As the Chief Executive of the PSPA and not previously involved in your FOI request, I have been asked to undertake the internal review and consequently I will consider your original FOI request afresh along with the response provided by the PSPA on the 6th May 2020. In your communication to Public Sector Pensions Authority dated 15th April 2020, you raised the following issues:

(1) As of 1st April 2020 what is the total number of former Isle of Man Constabulary police officers in receipt of injury awards in accordance with police pension and police injury benefit regulations? (2) As of 1st April 2020 what is the total number of former Isle of Man Constabulary police officers in receipt of injury awards in accordance with police pension and police injury benefit regulations in each of the 4 bands Band1 - Band4? (3) Broken down by year and banding how many regulation 37(1) reviews were conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in each of the 4 bands Band1 - Band4? (4) Broken down by year and banding how many regulation 32 reconsiderations were conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in each of the 4 bands Band1 - Band4?

I have reviewed your original request. I have also considered whether the original request was sufficiently clear as to the information requested and I am satisfied that your requirements were clear and that the PSPA via its FOI coordinator did not need to seek further clarification. I can also confirm that the PSPA responded to the request within the standard processing period of 20 days. I now consider whether the information requested was held by the PSPA. I note that the FOI request contained 4 specific questions (as recorded above) and that in its response, the PSPA held information in respect of only one of the questions, question 1. It therefore provided a response to question 1 and further advised that it did not or could not, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information requested which would cover your questions 2, 3 and 4. Your response dated 7th May 2020 subsequently noted that the information to questions 3 and 4 could not be provided by the PSPA (for the reasons given) and you did not query the response provided to question 1. I am therefore satisfied that the PSPA dealt adequately with your questions 1, 3 and 4 in its response and that no further comment or action is required in connection with these three questions which have been addressed in full by the PSPA. You did however query the response provided by the PSPA to question 2 which in your opinion was unsatisfactory and you provided further information to support your view that the information could and should be available to the PSPA, including similar information that was provided by three constabularies in the UK. In order to ascertain whether the information requested was able to be provided by the PSPA and what right of access individuals have to information held by public authorities such as the PSPA, I have considered the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (the Act). Clause 8 of the Act states that: “Subject to this Act, every person who is resident in the Island has a legally enforceable right to obtain access, in accordance with this Act, to information held by a public authority. “ The question I have then considered is whether the information you have requested under your question 2 is “held” by the PSPA. Under the Act, Clause 8 (2), information is “held” by a public authority if it is held — “(a) by the public authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or (b) by another person for or on behalf of the public authority.” However, the Act then goes on to say in Clause 8 (3) that: “Nothing in this Act requires a public authority to — (a) create or derive information from information that it holds;

(b) undertake research into, or analysis of, information that it holds; or (c) undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds.”
Having now investigated whether the PSPA does “hold” the information you have requested under your question 2, I have ascertained that the PSPA does not hold the information in the format requested and would need to go into the record of each of the 59 recipients referred to in its FOI response in order to ascertain if the relevant information was in fact held. On this basis the PSPA has provided a practical refusal to provide the information requested in line with part (b) of Clause 8 (3) of the Act. I have therefore considered whether if a practical refusal reason was applied, should the PSPA have provided advice and assistance to try to remove it before applying it to the information requested. I have ascertained that removal of the practical refusal reason would have required the PSPA to undertake considerable research into, or analysis of, information that it may or may not have held on its records which would be a significant amount of additional work for which it does not have the resources. I have noted that certain UK constabularies can provide this information but would comment that that the PSPA is the administering and managing authority for Isle of Man public service schemes and is not the equivalent of a UK constabulary. Therefore, retention of the information requested in question 2 in the format required is not something that the PSPA is required to undertake for the administration of its schemes. Decision For the reasons given above and having conducted an internal review of your FOI request, in accordance with part (b) of Clause 8 (3) of the Act, the final decision of this review is that I uphold the PSPA’s practical refusal reason to provide the information requested in question 2 of your FOI request. 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.

Yours sincerely

Ian T Murray Chief Executive Public Sector Pensions Authority

Chief Executive Officer Ian T Murray BCom (Hons), APMI 3rd Floor Prospect House 27-29 Prospect Hill Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1ET E-mail: pensions@pspa.im Website: www.pspa.im

Our ref: 2620417 21 September 2022

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 9 September 2022 and which states:

"Please provide copies of Responses made by you in relation to Requests for Information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 ("FOIA"), which you haven't included in the Disclosure Log here - https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/search from when the FOIA was introduced under the Appointed Day Order here - https://www.tynwald.org.im/links/tls/SD/2015-SD-0264.pdf to date."

Our response to your request is as follows: We have identified two FOI requests where the responses where not published due to an oversight. The FOI requests are noted below: 1. FOI Request – 1148725 - Response 2. FOI Request – 1264545 – Response and Review of Response Copies of the responses are attached as requested. The responses will also be published on the Disclosure Log. Please quote the reference number 2620417 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information requ

[Response truncated — full text is 16,669 characters]