FoI Costs

Summary

The request sought statistics on FOI responses over three financial years and details on staff handling these requests. The Department disclosed that 276 requests were responded to, with 207 involving practical refusals, and confirmed that while 54 staff members may be involved, only two EO grade coordinators manage the process as an additional duty.

Key Facts

• The Department responded to 276 FOI requests between 2021/2022 and 2023/2024.
• 207 of the responses involved a practical refusal reason.
• The most common practical refusal reason was 'Information not held' (179 instances).
• There are no staff members whose sole duty is handling FOI requests.
• Two staff members at EO grade coordinate and facilitate FOI requests as part of their broader roles.

Data Disclosed

• 276
• 207
• 69
• 179
• 25
• 117
• 75
• 84
• 18
• 26
• 25
• 99
• 49
• 59
• 92
• 42
• 45
• 7
• 4
• 14
• 54
• 2
• 2021/2022
• 2022/2023
• 2023/2024
• 2024-09-02
• 2024-09-27
• 26 September 2024
• 13 September 2024
• 4095413

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Practical Refusal)

Original Request

How many FOI requests were responded to in the last 3 financial year, including practical refusals?; How many staff does the Department employ to deal with FoI requests, their grades and whether this is their sole duty, or an additional duty as part of a job with another purpose?

Data Tables (3)

Full Response Text

Chief Officer: Paul Richardson Freedom of Information Team First Floor Belgravia House Circular Road Douglas IM1 1AE

Our ref: 4095413 26 September 2024

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 2 September 2024, and amended on 13 September 2024, which states:

“How many FOI requests were responded to in the last 3 financial year, including practical refusals?;

How many staff does the Department employ to deal with FoI requests, their grades and whether this is their sole duty, or an additional duty as part of a job with another purpose?”

The Department of Health and Social Care (the “Department”) has considered your request in two parts, as follows;

How many FOI requests were responded to in the last 3 financial year, including practical refusals?”

Our response to your request is as follows;

Financial Years 1st April - 31st March Table 1 2021/2022 2022/2023 2023/2024 Total All responses
117 75 84 276

Financial Years 1st April - 31st March Table 2 2021/2022 2022/2023 2023/2024 Total Total responses (no practical refusal applied) 18 26 25 69 Total responses (practical refusal applied) 99 49 59 207

Table 3 Financial Years 1st April - 31st March Breakdown of Practical Refusal Reasons: - 2021/2022 2022/2023 2023/2024 Total Information not held 92 42 45 179 Not required to fulfill request

1

1 Repeated request

2

2 Some information sent but not all held 7 4 14 25

Table 1 shows the Department responded to 276 Freedom of Information requests over the last 3 financial years. Table 2 shows that 207 responses were subject to a practical refusal reason. Table 3 shows a breakdown of these practical refusal reasons.

In line with our duty to provide advice and assistance in accordance with Section 15 of the Act, practical refusal reasons are defined at section 11(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (the “Act”). A practical refusal reason applies where it cannot be removed, despite the public authority’s attempts to remove it. In Table 3 for example, “Information not held” would indicate that section 11(3)(a) has been applied.

How many staff does the Department employ to deal with FoI requests, their grades and whether this is their sole duty, or an additional duty as part of a job with another purpose?

The purpose of the Act is to enable every person resident in the Island a right to access information held by a public authority. Section 5 of the Act defines information as meaning information recorded in any form. However, in accordance with our duty to provide advice and assistance, the Department will provide advice on how it processes FOI requests.

There are currently 54 members of staff employed by the Department. Depending on the nature of the FOI request received, any member of staff may be involved in responding to a request.

Whilst there are no members of staff in the Department for whom responding to FOI requests is their sole duty, there are two members of staff at EO grade, who coordinate and facilitate FOI requests received by the Department. In practice these “FOI Coordinators” would reach out to other members of the Department depending on the nature of the query received to collate information that it would provide in its responses.

Please quote the reference number 4095413 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.