civil legal aid applications and appeals

Summary

The requester asked for detailed data on rejected civil legal aid applications and appeals over the last four financial years. The Treasury refused the request, classifying it as vexatious due to a pattern of frequent, overlapping, and burdensome correspondence.

Key Facts

• The request was refused under Section 11(3)(d) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 as vexatious.
• This was the seventh FOI request received by the Treasury in a five-month period regarding civil legal aid.
• The authority noted a 'scattergun approach' involving correspondence with multiple officers.
• Some requests were submitted before previous ones could be answered, creating an unmanageable burden.
• The Treasury determined that advice and assistance could not remove the practical refusal reason.

Data Disclosed

• 4004962
• 2885666
• 2024-07-23
• 2024-08-19
• 7 requests
• 5-month period
• 2 requests under Code of Practice
• 3 requests within one day
• 4 financial years

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)(d) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Vexatious request)

Original Request

Further to FOI #2885666 please release information in the 4 most recent financial years related to rejected CIVIL legal aid applications (1) application date (2) rejected date (3) reasons rejected (4) appeal date (5) appeal outcome with reasons rejected if rejected.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information
Seyrsnys Fysseree

The Treasury Government Office,
Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 3PU

Telephone: (01624) 685605 Email: FOI.Treasury@gov.im

Government Website: www.gov.im

Our ref: 4004962 19 August 2024

Dear ###,

This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2015.

We write further to your request, received 23 July 2024, which states:

"Further to FOI #2885666 please release information in the 4 most recent financial years related to rejected CIVIL legal aid applications (1) application date (2) rejected date (3) reasons rejected (4) appeal date (5) appeal outcome with reasons rejected if rejected."

Our response to your request is as follows:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under Section 11(2)(b) of the Act, a public authority may refuse to give the information requested, if a Practical Refusal Reason is engaged, and cannot be removed through the provision of advice and assistance under Section 15 of the Act. In this instance the Practical Refusal Reason identified is section 11(3)(d) of the Act, where a public authority may refuse to give the information requested if the request for information is vexatious, malicious, frivolous, misconceived or lacking in substance.

Examples of factors which a public authority may take into account in determining if a request is vexatious etc. are set out in the Code of Practice (“the Code”) issued under section 60 of the Act, which you can find here.

Section 2 of the Code provides for public authorities to look behind the request and consider it in light of its context and history in exceptional circumstances. A request which may appear completely benign on the surface but forms part of a wider trend when looked at in context can meet the criteria to be refused under this provision. The Code states that ‘An Authority should take a holistic approach and consider all indicators in addition to any other factors in reaching a judgment as to whether the request amounts to being a disproportionate, manifestly unjustified, inappropriate or improper use of the Act.’

Circumstances of the request This request to Treasury is the latest of seven received in a 5-month period all of which relate to the Civil Legal Aid assessment process. In addition, and during this 5- month period, a further two requests have been made under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and several requests for further information relating to the previous requests or asking for further information have been received by the Civil Legal Aid Team directly.

We therefore consider that it is now appropriate to look beyond your request and review the circumstances in which it has been made, including the ancillary correspondence received by officers. This review has identified factors indicating the request may be vexatious as described in the Code, including the correspondence with multiple officers, which is an indicator of a scattergun approach. A brief explanation of our decision is provided below.

Pattern and nature of requests
The requests have been frequent and overlapping. As previously stated, there have been numerous requests in a short period of time. On one occasion there were three requests submitted within one day and in some cases new requests have been submitted before we have been able to respond to previous requests. When taking these requests into account, alongside the numerous requests made to the Civil Legal Aid Team directly, this has the effect of creating a burden that the authority can’t reasonably be expected to manage.

Despite the persistent requests, some of which contain unsubstantiated allegations and comments about Civil Legal Aid processes, much time and resource from this small team has been spent in researching, gathering information and responding to requests, reducing their capacity to carry out their core functions. Efforts to provide information and assistance have been met with further requests, a reluctance to accept our response and lengthy emails, which are difficult to decipher, prolong the process and in some cases contain further accusations. Therefore it is the Department’s view that continuing to engage with you on the topic of Civil Legal Aid will further expend officer resource processing requests and providing responses.

Advice & assistance Before a practical refusal reason can be engaged we must first attempt to remove the practical refusal reason through the provision of advice and assistance, as stated in the Act and the Code.

We have spent considerable time and resource in providing assistance and complying with your requests, however our attempts to assist have been met with further requests, intransigence and accusations. Based on correspondence with Treasury officers to date, the Department determines that it cannot reasonably be expected to remove this Practical Refusal Reason through the provision of advice and assistance.

For these reasons Treasury is refusing your request and is engaging the practical refusal reason under section 11(3)(d) of the Act.

Please quote the reference number 4004962 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.