Samaritans Purse charity

Summary

The request sought details on the Department of Infrastructure's support for the Samaritans Purse 'Operation Christmas Child' train event, including costs, staffing, and future plans. The authority disclosed that the train will not run in the future due to lack of request and concerns over the charity's leadership, while providing specific cost estimates and policy details.

Key Facts

• The train operation involved 3 paid staff members who would have been paid regardless of the event.
• All other staff involvement was voluntary.
• The estimated additional fuel cost was approximately £60 for a quarter tonne of coal.
• The train will not operate in the future as the charity did not request it.
• The Minister previously granted consent for the train only if the charity assured that offensive comments by its international president did not reflect the charity's views.

Data Disclosed

• 2017-10-13
• 2017-10-25
• June 2016
• 3 members of paid staff
• quarter of a tonne of coal
• £60
• 2016
• 2015

Exemptions Cited

• Section 20 of the Act (information already reasonably accessible)

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

FOI Reference No: IM106796i Request Under The Freedom Of Information Act 2015 (“The Act”)

Thank you for your request dated 13 October 2017.

Your request

Please can you provide me with the following information regarding the Department's support for the Samaritan's Purse Charity event, the Operation Christmas Child shoe box appeal and the use of departmental resources.

Specifically I would like to know the following information:

1 How much does it cost the Department to run the train for the event. What are the train running costs, fuel etc. Are staff (drivers conductors admin staff etc) paid or are they asked to volunteer their time?

2 Does the department plan on continuing to support this charity.

3 Does the department have an up to date policy on supporting non Manx registered charities. (The local collections are made via a IOM based volunteer but she is collecting locally on behalf of the UK registered charity).

4 I know the train has run for the past few years and there is usually an accompanying 'good news' press story in the local papers but I noticed there was a much lower profile of reporting on the event. Please can you provide me with copies of any co-correspondence both internal and external that relates to the management of this event and decisions around marketing and what to release to the press.

I understand some of the information maybe more time consuming to collate (in particular point 4) but I would like if possible to have the answers to the other points while I wait for you to gather the other information.

I also feel I should disclose I have written to the department on other occasions about this matter and have requested information in the past on this matter in 2016 and 2015 but not as a FOI. My concerns are genuine and not vexatious, my intention is to gather information on the scale of the operations and local support of the UK charity Samaratin's Purse on the IOM.

I am happy to answer any questions regarding my request by telephone or email.

Response to your request

We note that you submitted very similar questions under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in June 2016. However, in the spirit of transparency (as a request under FOI is made public), we have given the answers to your questions below

1. The operation of this train involved 3 members of paid staff who would have been paid for the day regardless, as they would be involved with the movement of rolling stock between operational and storage locations at the end of the season. All other involvement with the train was on a voluntary basis. Regarding fuel consumption, it is estimated that there would be a slight additional fuel use of around a quarter of a tonne of coal (ie £60).

2. The train will not operate this year as the charity has not requested it. Having ceased, we would not anticipate running this train in future.

3. The Department of Infrastructure has a policy ‘Department of Infrastructure involvement with Charities’ a copy of which is attached at Appendix 1. The Shoe Box Train was first run prior to the introduction of the current policy; the Minister gave consent for the train to operate last year with the proviso “provided the charity… can provide assurance to the Department that the somewhat offensive comments made by its international president do not reflect the views and purposes of the charity…”. However, as mentioned in question 2, this train will not be run in future. Please note that only signatures have been redacted from the Policy document.

4. The Department of Infrastructure generally does not send press releases out for events that they have not organised. In this particular instance, because of the concerns expressed to the Minister by you and others in the past, a media release was published last year, based on the details above and the content of our letter to you of June 2016. It can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.im/news/2016/mar/02/shoebox-appeal-train-will-continue-to-run-in-support-of- operation-christmas-child/

Under section 20 of the Act we do not have to provide you with information if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

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 to foi.doi@gov.im or by delivery/post to The FOI Co-ordinator, Department of Infrastructure, Sea Terminal Buildings, Douglas, IM1 2RF. An electronic version and paper version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at www.gov.im/foireview

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;

APPENDIX 1