Manx Development corporation funding

Original Request

Please provide as of today's date the funding provided to the MDC. a) all the drawn down amounts taken from the Lloyds Bank loan facility; b) Please provide the total drawn down amount from loan facility; c) Please provide the total cost to date of the Old Nurses Home Project. 

Data Tables (2)

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: 4141401 18 October 2024

Dear ###,

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

"Please provide as of today's date the funding provided to the MDC. a) all the drawn down amounts taken from the Lloyds Bank loan facility; b) Please provide the total drawn down amount from loan facility; c) Please provide the total cost to date of the Old Nurses Home Project. "

Our response to your request is as follows:

a) All the drawn down amounts taken from the Lloyds Bank loan facility

Based on the information held (dated 23/09/2024), the amounts the Manx Development Corporation have drawn down from the Lloyds Bank loan facility for 2024 are as follows:

DATE LOAN 1 DATE LOAN 2 12/03/2024 £2,141,774.35 23/01/2024 £2,086,373.00 12/06/2024 £5,373,513.43 23/07/2024 £2,147,876.17

DATE LOAN 3 DATE LOAN 4 09/03/2024 £5,147,198.11 09/03/2024 £2,058,879.24 04/09/2024 £5,300,382.18 11/06/2024 £2,090,055.82

04/09/2024 £2,120,572.26

The way the Lloyds Bank loan facility works is an initial loan amount is drawn down for a specific period of time (either 3 or 6 months). At the end of this period a new loan request is made to pay off the initial amount plus the interest.

The above amounts are where loans have been drawn down at the end of a 3 or 6 month period. The initial loans which were originally drawn down and any subsequent drawn downs which took place in 2023 are already reasonably accessible to you. Therefore an exemption under section 20 of the Act (information accessible to

applicant by other means) is engaged in relation to the disclosure of the amounts drawn down from the Lloyds Bank loan facility during 2023.

The draw down amounts from 2023 can otherwise be accessed via the following link and searching for Case ID 3536369:

https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/search

b) the total drawn down amount from loan facility

Based on the information held (dated 23/09/2024), the total amount the Manx Development Corporation have drawn down from the Lloyds Bank facility is as follows:

£15,039,009.90

The above amount is made up of the initial loans, the interest for each loan from when it was drawn down to 31 August and a commitment fee.

c) the total cost to date of the Old Nurses Home Project

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure under section 30 of the Act as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of a third party, that third party being the Manx Development Corporation (MDC). Accordingly an exemption is engaged under section 30(2)(b) of the Act (Economy and Commercial Interests).
The expected gross project cost is already in the public domain and if the total amount spent on the former nurses home to date is disclosed, this would mean suppliers and contractors would have a better understanding of MDC’s financial position. Disclosure of this information will make commercially sensitive information available to potential participants within the procurement process offering them a commercial advantage. It is important that the procurement of goods and services is a fair process, without any perceived compromise, as disclosure would likely adversely impact MDC’s negotiating position and would likely place MDC at a disadvantage when procuring goods and services.
The Treasury is satisfied, based on information provided to it by MDC, that an exemption under section 30(2)(b) of the Act applies to the information requested for this part of your request as it relates to the commercial interests of a third party, namely MDC.
As section 30 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The factors the Treasury has considered are as follows:

Factors in favour of disclosure • As MDC is publicly funded to some extent, disclosure would show where public money is being spent. • There is a general public interest in this project, disclosure would allow scrutiny of the costs involved and this would provide a better public understanding and inform public debate.
• Disclosure would build trust between the public, the Treasury and MDC and provide transparency.

Factors in favour of withholding • The need to protect the commercial interests of the MDC. • Disclosure of commercially sensitive information to the public would likely provide potential participants within the procurement process a commercial advantage and would likely adversely impact MDC’s negotiating position, placing them at a disadvantage when procuring goods and services.
• Similarly suppliers who are still to supply goods or services under a contract could increase the costs should a variance to the agreed contract be required.
• Disclosure of the associated costs with the project could cause financial instability for MDC if they are placed at a disadvantage when procuring goods and services, which would in turn affect the Treasury, as MDC is publicly funded to some extent.
• This is a time limited exemption which will expire once the development of the former nurses home has been completed by MDC.

In taking these factors into account the Treasury determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

Please quote the reference number 4141401 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

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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.