Unpublished FOI requests

Summary

The requester asked for monthly statistics on Freedom of Information requests received, refused, answered, and published by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture over the last 12 months. The authority provided aggregate totals for the period but stated it could not supply monthly breakdowns as the data is not held in that format.

Key Facts

• The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture received 53 FOI requests between 27 March 2017 and 27 March 2018.
• 32 of the 53 requests (61%) were published on the government website.
• 7 requests (13%) resulted in no information being released due to exemptions or practical limitations.
• 12 requests (23%) were for information the department did not hold.
• The department refused to provide monthly statistics because it does not hold data in that format and is not obliged to create new information under s.8(3) of the FoI Act.

Data Disclosed

• 53
• 32
• 61%
• 21
• 39%
• 7
• 13%
• 12
• 23%
• 6
• 27 March 2017
• 27 March 2018
• 27 March 2018
• 5 April 2018
• s.8 (3)
• 395237

Exemptions Cited

• Information held was considered exempt under the Act
• Request was a repeated request
• Request was too large and not reasonably practicable to fulfill without being more focused
• Information not held by the authority
• Obligation to create information does not exist under s.8(3) of the FoI Act

Original Request

For each of the last 12 months, how many Freedom of Information requests have been: (a) received (b) refused (c) answered (d) published on the government website

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: 395237 5 April 2018

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 27 March 2018 and which states:

"For each of the last 12 months, how many Freedom of Information requests have been: (a) received (b) refused (c) answered (d) published on the government website"

Our response to your request is as follows: DEFA has received 53 requests in the past 12 months (27 March 2017 – 27 March 2018). Of the 53 FOI requests received, 32 (61%) responses have been published.
The remaining 21 (39%) were considered to either: a. Relate to a private interest rather than the wider public interest; b. The information requested was already publicly available; c. The request was a repeat request and was identical or significantly similar to a request already published, or in circumstances where the request was withdrawn (6 requests have been withdrawn); or d. It was not reasonably practicable to publish the information because of the format of the information. Of the 53 FOI requests received, 7 (13%) have not had information released due to the following factors:
a. All of the information held was considered exempt under the Act; b. The request was considered to be a repeated request and therefore we were not required to fulfil the request; c. The request was originally considered to be a very large request and after providing some information, it was decided that to proceed with the request in its original form would not be possible. Therefore we were not able to fulfil the request without it being more clearly focused.

DEFA did not hold any of the information requested in relation to 12 (23%) of the requests received. Please note DEFA does not hold the requested information in a monthly format and under s.8 (3) of the FoI Act, we are not obliged to create information.
Isle of Man Government FOI Publication Policy: https://www.gov.im/media/1350902/publication-of-freedom-of-information-request- responses.pdf Please quote the reference number 395237 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 to us at:
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

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