Information on the proposal to co-locate St Thomas and Vallajeelt within last 24 months

Summary

The requester sought correspondence, meeting minutes, and consultation details regarding the proposal to co-locate St Thomas and Vallajeelt schools within the last 24 months. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture refused to release the information, citing that it was already publicly available via a previous Freedom of Information response.

Key Facts

• Five separate FOI requests (IM92842I, IM92843I, IM92845I, IM92846I, IM92847I) were consolidated into a single response.
• The information requested concerns the co-location proposal between St Thomas School and Vallajeelt School.
• The authority refused the request under Section 20(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015.
• The refusal was based on the information being accessible to the applicant by other means.
• A link was provided to a PDF document containing the details from a related request (IM91608I).
• The response was issued on 17 July 2017 by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture.

Data Disclosed

• 24 months
• 12 months
• 2 years
• 2017-06-25
• 2017-07-18
• 10th July
• IM92842I
• IM92843I
• IM92845I
• IM92846I
• IM92847I
• IM91608I
• Section 20 (2) (b)
• IM1 5EZ

Exemptions Cited

• Section 20 (2) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (information accessible to applicant by other means)

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

17 July 2017

Re: Freedom of Information Requests – Reference Number IM92842I, IM92843I, IM92845I, IM92847I, IM92846I

Your Requests:-

(Please note that as all of the above referenced requests concern the same subject matter your requests have been consolidated into this letter for convenience of response.)

IM92842I - Please provide a copy of all correspondence between the Department's Director of Education and Children, the CEO or other relevant representative with the headteacher of St Thomas School, and/or the headteacher of Vallajeelt School, relating to the proposal to collocate the schools, within the last 24 months.

IM92843I - Please confirm what meetings have taken place in the past 24 months regarding the proposed colocation of St Thomas School with Vallajeelt called by or on behalf of the Department and provide a copy of minutes of all such meetings.

IM92845I - Please provide details of the proposal for co-location of St Thomas School and Vallajeelt as presented to the headteachers of those schools over the past 24 months

IM92846I - Please confirm when and whom took the decision to collocate St Thomas School at the Vallajeelt site and provide any internal correspondence of the Department within the past 12 months regarding the proposal to collocate the schools as between any relevant personnel in the Department.

IM92847I - Please confirm if any consultation has been carried out regarding the proposed colocation of St Thomas School and Vallajeelt with any other public authority or other body, parents or other individuals, and if so provide details of such consultations and the results, within the last 2 years.

Department Response

Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the Freedom of Information Act 2015 makes provision for public authorities to refuse to release information on Department of Education and Children

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grounds where the information is absolutely exempt information or where a qualified exemption may apply.

As the information you have requested is now publicly available (in response to a related FoI request, reference number IM91608I dated 10th July) your requests to be furnished with the above information are therefore refused as absolute exemptions apply under Section 20 (2) (b) of the Act (information accessible to applicant by other means - available on the internet or from any other reasonably accessible source).

However, to be of assistance to you, the URL below will enable you to review the details published in response to FoI request IM91608I:-

https://www.gov.im/media/1357822/closure-transfer-of-st-thomas-primary-school.pdf

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 Review/Complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post to:
Mr Andrew Shipley, Legal and Administration Manager, Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 5EZ.

An electronic version of our Review/Complaint form can be found by going to https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information/

Your Review/Complaint 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 conducted.

Appeal Process

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; 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/contact-us/

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