On-call information

Summary

A request for on-call staff details at the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture was partially fulfilled, disclosing hours and response times while withholding specific pay rates due to personal data exemptions and directing the requester to public HR resources for call-out fees.

Key Facts

• Five staff members at the Cornaa Fish Hatchery provide an on-call service.
• The total on-call coverage provided during a standard week is 113 hours.
• Staff are expected to respond to call-outs within 45 minutes due to the sensitive nature of aquaculture.
• Hourly rates were withheld as absolutely exempt personal information under Section 25 of the Act.
• Call-out fee information was deemed accessible by other means via the Government HR website.

Data Disclosed

• 5
• 113 hours
• 45 minutes
• 2024-06-05
• 2024-06-14
• 3905770

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25(b)(i)&(ii) – Absolutely exempt personal information
• Section 20 – Information accessible to applicant by other means

Original Request

Within the Isle of Man government, several departments have 'on-call' staff who return to work outside of their core hours; 1) How many hours 'on-call' are these staff expected to provide to their employer? 2) What is the hourly rate and/or call-out fee paid to these staff? 3) What amount of time are they expected to respond to a 'call-out' in?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator Corporate Services Directorate Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road, St John’s, Isle of Man, IM4 3AS Tel no (01624) 685854 Fax no (01624 685851 Email: defa@gov.im www.gov.im

Our ref: 3905770 14 June 2024

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 5 June 2024, which states:

Within the Isle of Man government, several departments have 'on-call' staff who return to work outside of their core hours:

1) How many hours 'on-call' are these staff expected to provide to their employer?

2) What is the hourly rate and/or call-out fee paid to these staff?

3) What amount of time are they expected to respond to a 'call-out' in?"

Our response to your request is as follows: please see below the information being released to you.

1) How many hours 'on-call' are these staff expected to provide to their employer?

The Department employ five members of staff to work at the Cornaa Fish Hatchery. During a standard working week an ‘on-call’ service is provided covering 113 hours. These ‘on-call’ hours are divided evenly between the team.

2a) What is the hourly rate paid to these staff?

Section 25(b)(i)&(ii) – Absolutely exempt personal information
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information). The reasons why that exemption applies are that:

• The Department of Environment Food and Agriculture is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and

• The Department of Environment Food and Agriculture is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018,

namely that the Department of Environment Food and Agriculture can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

2b) What is the call-out fee paid to these staff?

Section 20 – Information accessible to applicant by other means
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. The information that you have requested is available from the Isle of Man Government Office of Human Resources website at the following address and by accessing the ‘Dayworkers’ link:

https://hr.gov.im/terms-conditions-for-employees/manual-craft- workers/articles/payments-for-recalls-to-duty/

3) What amount of time are they expected to respond to a 'call-out' in?"

Due to the very sensitive nature of aquaculture staff would be expected to respond within 45 minutes.

Please quote the reference number 3905770 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