Consultations - 'Safeguarding Bill 2017' submissions

Summary

The requester asked for the number of submissions and copies of public submissions regarding the Safeguarding Bill 2017 consultation. The Cabinet Office responded that this information was already reasonably accessible online, citing Section 20 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 to withhold physical copies.

Key Facts

• The request was received on 19 October 2017 and responded to on 15 November 2017.
• The authority stated that consultation results, including submission counts and public responses, are published online within three months of the closing date.
• The Cabinet Office refused to provide hard copies under Section 20 of the Act as the information is already reasonably accessible via the internet.
• Requesters without internet access were directed to contact Anna Goldsmith for hard copies.
• The authority advised that consultation-specific queries should be directed to the consultation contact rather than through the FOI process.

Data Disclosed

• 19 October 2017
• 15 November 2017
• Safeguarding Bill 2017
• Section 20
• three months
• 01624 686620
• 01624 686244
• 01624 685710

Exemptions Cited

• Section 20 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Information reasonably accessible)

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

1

REFERENCE NUMBER: CAB00010

REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2015 (“the Act”) Thank you for your written application received 19 October 2017 for the following information: “I refer to the 'Safeguarding Bill 2017' public consultation. 1. Please can you state how many submissions were received. 2. Please can you send me copies of all the submissions whose consent has been given for the submissions to be in the public domain.” Response to your request
In answer to your question 1, this information has been published online at: https://consult.gov.im/cabinet-office/safeguarding-bill/consultation/published_select_respondent. We aim to publish results within three months of the closing date of any consultation and this includes the number of responses received.
Regarding question 2; responses to the consultation on the Safeguarding Bill 2017 have been published online where consent has been given to do so, again this can be found at the web address above.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under section 20 of the Act we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you, whether free of charge or on payment of a fee. As this information is available on the internet it is considered reasonably accessible.
If you do not have access to the internet either privately or through a public provider, for example the Welcome Centre or a library, and you require hardcopy of these responses; please use the contact details provided for each specific consultation. For the Safeguarding Bill 2017 consultation the contact details were: Anna Goldsmith (01624) 686620, annamarie.goldsmith2@gov.im We also take this opportunity to advise that for consultations, where contact details are provided, the questions within this request and similar such queries, could be directed that way rather than using the freedom of information process.

Government Office DOUGLAS Isle of Man IM1 3PN Tel: (+44) 01624 686244 Fax: (+44) 01624 685710 Website www.gov.im/co
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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 to the FOI Co-ordinator, Cabinet Office, Government Office, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PN. An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website https://www.gov.im/foireview. If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact us and we 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 apply for a review of decisions by 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 rights to review is on the Information Commissioner’s website at: https://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.