Underwritten loans

Summary

The request sought a record of all losses underwritten by Visit Isle of Man between October 2021 and September 2024, but the response provided only a standard offer letter template rather than specific loss data. The authority disclosed the terms and conditions for event funding guarantees while withholding the actual financial records of losses.

Key Facts

• The request covered the period from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024.
• The response included a standard offer letter template for the Tourist Event Development Scheme.
• Interim payments of up to 75% require written application with three weeks' notice.
• Final payments are contingent on submitting a balance sheet and clearing accounts before 31 March of the event year.
• The Department for Enterprise explicitly states it will not meet any overspend under any circumstances.

Data Disclosed

• 1 October 2021
• 30 September 2024
• 75%
• 25%
• 31 March
• 14 days
• two weeks
• three weeks
• (01624) 644644

Original Request

A record of all losses underwritten by the Visit Isle of Man agency from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024 (inclusive). -By "record" I mean the contract and authorisation records within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. -By "losses underwritten" I mean commitments to cover financial losses with non-Governmental organisations.

Data Tables (5)

Full Response Text

Department for Enterprise

STANDARD OFFER LETTER

Re: XYZ EVENT

I am pleased to advise you that at a recent meeting of the Events Committee, it was agreed to guarantee the above event against loss to a maximum total sum of £……..

It is a condition of funding that all event organisers receiving financial support from the Department for Enterprise should submit their event details to www.visitisleofman.com within two weeks of receiving this offer letter. This is in order to maximise event entries and attendance at your event. This can be done here:- www.visitisleofman.com/trade/events/submit-event

Interim Payments Interim payments of up to 75% may only be obtained by application in writing giving a minimum of three weeks notice and I would ask you to note that no accounts for your event will be paid direct to the creditors by this department.

Final Payments Final payments will not be made until submission of a balance sheet and/or set of accounts appertaining to the event. It is also a condition of the guarantee that the said documents must be produced as soon as possible and in all cases accounts must be cleared and the guarantee claimed before the end of the financial year (31 March) in which the event takes place, after which funding may not be available. It is a requirement of this offer that your event may be selected for an audit, so it is important that all supporting documentation relating to your event such as invoices, receipts and income records are kept complete and up to date and be available for inspection on request.

Even if you do not intend to claim the final 25% a full set of accounts detailing all event income received and payments made must nevertheless be submitted to the Department after the event. Refreshments and snacks for volunteers on the day of the event can be included in costs. Any food for event participants should be paid for in full as part of their entry fee. Any corporate event clothing for organisers, e.g. polo shirts should not be dated so they do not require replacing every year. The Department will only accept event costs as listed in your application form which was previously approved by the Events Committee. Any unused balance must be returned to the Department and not used for non-essential additional spend.

It is your responsibility to ensure any venues required to run the event are booked directly with the venue and confirmation of that booking received before advertising the event.

The accounts should include all expenditure and particularly income derived directly or indirectly from the event. Also, the accounts should not show any payment to the members or officers of the organising committee unless the department has previously approved such payments. Any equipment purchased with Government Funding may be called upon for use with other events. Please forward a detailed list of such equipment and contact details should we wish to make use of it.

Visit Isle of Man (Events)

Telephone (01624) 644644 E-Mail specialevents@gov.im
Web Site www.visitisleofman.com

Our ref:

Date:

Chief Executive Mark Lewin It must be stressed that it is the responsibility of the event organiser to monitor their own budgets and that this department will not, under any circumstances, meet any overspend in respect of the event.

Sponsorship This agreement does not in any way absolve your organisation from the need to seek sponsorship from other sources to decrease your guarantee and thus release funds in order that this Department may support other events. You are also asked to note any goods or services supplied by this department in connection with the planning and/or running of the event will be charged by this department against the guarantee sum.

Acknowledgement It would be appreciated when you issue press releases, statements or results, or conduct interviews with the media that acknowledgement is made of the Department support. Where possible in print, banners, websites and adverts, please use the phrase “supported by www.visitisleofman.com”. An electronic version of our logo can be obtained from Tourism Events.

Event Safety Group – Notification Form This can be completed here https://www.gov.im/categories/leisure-and-entertainment/event-safety- notification-form It is a condition of our support that formal notification is made to the Event Safety Advisory Group ahead of your event.

I trust the foregoing will be acceptable. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Good luck with your event and keep us updated with your progress.

Yours sincerely

Events Manager

-------------------------------------------------------Detach here------------------------------------------------ Please return this acceptance slip within 14 days

Name:

Event:

I confirm that I have read, understood and accept the terms and conditions of the Tourist Event Development Scheme and this offer, and am acting with the knowledge and authority of my club, company or organisation.

Signed Date

Date Received by Tourism Events

Please Note:- It is a condition of Department offers for events taking place during TT that if sponsorship is being sought from 3rd parties then written approval is required from the Department’s Motorsport Team. This is to avoid clashes with TT title and race sponsors. Under no circumstance will permission be given for on-course advertising of non TT sponsors.

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator 1st Floor, St Georges Court Upper Church Street, Douglas Isle of Man IM1 1EX

Telephone: (01624 686400) Website: https://www.iomdfenterprise.im/

Our ref: 4175041 28 October 2024

Dear

We write further to your request, received 4 October 2024, which states:

"A record of all losses underwritten by the Visit Isle of Man agency from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024 (inclusive).

-By "record" I mean the contract and authorisation records within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.

-By "losses underwritten" I mean commitments to cover financial losses with non-Governmental organisations."

Our response to your request is as follows:

Funding for special events is provided via the Tourist Event Development Scheme (TEDS).

To provide some context here is an overview of “the Scheme”:

Tourist Event Development Scheme:

The Isle of Man has a vibrant community which organises a raft of special events related to sport, culture, the arts, nature, motorsport and heritage transport. Many of these events have strong enough appeal to attract event-specific, off-Island visitors to take part and spectate.
The Island’s ability to deliver these events is anchored in the skill and enthusiasm of event organisers.

The Department for Enterprise’s Visit Agency operates a Tourist Event Development Scheme. The Scheme offers a financial guarantee against loss/underwrite for medium (100+) and in some cases, grants to events which attract significant numbers of visitors to the Island who wouldn’t have otherwise come.

2 | P a g e

The key consideration for this particular scheme is whether attendees are coming to the Island specifically for the event, or whether it is an event that people might just casually attend when they are here as leisure visitors already. If it’s the former, then the event may be a candidate for support. The main criteria used to assess applications are visitor numbers, the number of bed-nights generated, visitor spend and seasonality. By seasonality we mean events taking place at quieter times of the year, so as not to displace existing business when the Island is already busy. As a matter of Department policy the scheme does not cover rock and pop music type events under this scheme.

Notes:

• Due to the way information about the Scheme is recorded, the reply is divided into three sections. Taken together, these three sections covering the date range from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024 inclusive, which the enquirer has requested.
• For clarity, the date alongside each event listed is the date when the commitment was made to support a particular event. It is not the date the event took place.
• The totals provided in this response include the value of underwrites offered and not the amount subsequently claimed by organisers. Such guarantees against loss (underwrites) may be claimed in full, partially claimed or not claimed at all by organisers.
• The Department for Enterprise derives its specific powers to offer financial support in this area from Schedule 1 of the Tourist Act 1975.
• The majority of funding decisions are taken by the Visit Agency’s Tourism Events Committee.

The latest complete year of operation of the Scheme was 2023. The performance of the Scheme was as follows:

• The Scheme supported 40 events.
• Out of the 40 events, 9 were TT, Southern 100 or MGP entertainment events. We do not include visitor numbers for entertainment events. • The number of visitor events receiving financial support (not including TT, Southern 100 or MGP) was 31
• The number of visitors generated by events supported under the scheme was 11,287. • The number of incremental visitor bed-nights generated by events supported under the Scheme was 47,428.
• The estimated gross visitor spend by these visitors was £6.5milllion.

Application of Section 30(2)(b)

The Department has provided a list of tourist events below, where the commitment authorising the financial underwrites was made during the date range requested. In addition, the Department has provided the total value of support offered to events during the date range requested.

The Department has chosen not to provide the full detail of the information requested in respect of individual financial offers made to tourist event organisers or the contracts and detailed authorisation records pertaining to individual organisers. The Tourist Event Development Scheme receives applications throughout the year and support offers are made on 3 | P a g e

a case-by-case. It is the view of this Department that release of past financial offers would prejudice the Department’s future ability to maximise value for money for the taxpayer in respect of such applications. The Department therefore will apply an exemption under s30(2)(b) of the Act in respect of the financial commitments made to individual applicants under the Tourist Event Development Scheme.

This Department is aware that the information provided in response to a request of this nature is deemed to be a disclosure to the world in general rather than a disclosure to an individual requestor. It is this Department’s opinion that whilst disclosure of the information would most likely be in the public interest, the release of financial information related to individual events would not, due to the previously mentioned prejudice this would have.

On balance the disclosure of the individual amounts has been assessed in favour of not releasing the financial information in anticipation of disclosure prejudicing future applications to the Scheme.

As section 30 is a qualified exemption it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is either of serious concern and benefit to the public at large in order to outweigh the ability for the Department to maximise value for money to the tax payer in general.

Factors in favour of disclosure

Disclosure would promote increased transparency and provide insight and better understanding of the cost of supporting events that attract visitors to the Island or enhance the visitor experience.

Factors in favour of withholding

This Department's ability to obtain the best financial outcomes from the Tourist Event Development Scheme requires a starting position for all applicants that is based on the individual circumstances of their event and what it can offer the Island’s visitor economy. If the costs for individual events are made publicly available this will provide an indication to potential applicants without full context and is likely to reduce the Department's ability to obtain best value for money.

In taking these statements into account this Department has determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the partial exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing all information in full.

Event Title Date the commitment to an underwrite was agreed
IOM Marathon & Half Marathon 04/10/21 TT Motorcycle Show (Peel) 03/12/21 The International Linguistics Olympiad
03/12/21 4 | P a g e

FOM Moddey Dhoo Motorcycle Show 03/12/21 Festival of Motoring
03/12/21 Manx MTB 2-day Enduro
03/12/21 Lighthouse Challenge 01/03/22 Youth Cycle Tour 01/03/22 FIM European Trials Championship Round
01/03/22 Douglas TT Beach Race 01/03/22 Europe Netball Open Challenge 18/03/22 Bentley TT 100 20/05/22 Home Nations Veterans Table Tennis
25/05/22 Manx International Cycling Stage Race 09/06/22 Festival of Jurby 15/08/22 TLI Cycling Championships 06/09/22 Walk Isle of Man 15/09/22 Total commitments for underwritten events in this period :- £153,847

Event Title
Date the commitment to an underwrite was agreed
Easter Festival of Running 09/12/22 TT Motorcycle Show (Peel) 09/12/22 IOM Marathon & Half Marathon 09/12/22 Manx International Classic Trial 09/12/22 Manx National Two Day Trial 09/12/22 5 | P a g e

VMCC Manx Rally 09/12/22 Parish Walk 09/12/22 CAMRA Real Ale Festival 09/12/22 MGP Moddey Dhoo Motorcycle Show 09/12/22 Choir Festival 09/12/22 Cycle 360 MTB Cycle Enduro
09/12/22 Manx Mountain Marathon 09/12/22 Bridge Congress 24/02/23 Jurby Drag Racing (JUNE) 24/02/23 Youth Cycle Tour 24/02/23 Jurby Drag Racing (MGP) 24/02/23 Inter-Island Netball Challenge 24/02/23 IPA Pool Event Grand Finals (Nov) 24/02/23 FC Isle of Man 22/23 Season 06/04/23 Douglas TT Beach Race 13/04/23 Manx National Rally 05/05/23 Ladies & Girls British Trials Championship 17/05/23 Lighthouse Challenge 31/05/23 Jurby Day 14/08/23 Walk the Isle of Man 22/09/23 FC Isle of Man 23/24 Season 08/12/23

Total commitments for underwritten events in this period:- £250,375 6 | P a g e

Event Title Date the commitment to underwrite was agreed
European Netball 18/04/23 TT Moddey Dhoo Motorcycle Show (Peel) 19/12/23 IOM Marathon & Half Marathon 19/12/23 Manx International Classic Trial 19/12/23 Youth Cycle Tour 19/12/23 Manx National Two Day Trial 19/12/23 CAMRA Real Ale Festival 19/12/23 MGP Moddey Dhoo Motorcycle Show 19/12/23 Cycle 360 MTB Cycle En

[Response truncated — full text is 17,485 characters]