7 responses DESC received by post and email re the new Education Bill

Summary

The request sought copies of seven public consultation responses regarding the new Education Bill, specifically those where consent to publish was given. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture disclosed three responses that had consent, while withholding four due to lack of permission, though one referenced document was made available via an external link.

Key Facts

• The Department received 7 manual responses (post and email) to the Education Bill consultation.
• Only 3 respondents expressly gave permission to publish their responses.
• The non-publication of the 3 consented responses was initially an administrative oversight.
• 4 responses were withheld because publishing them would be contrary to the respondents' wishes.
• One withheld response contained a document by Allan Norman accessible via a government report link.

Data Disclosed

• 7 responses
• 3 respondents
• 4 responses
• 2018-02-12
• 2018-04-19
• 6th March 2018
• s26
• page 29
• 2016-2017

Exemptions Cited

• Section 26 of the Freedom of Information Act (information provided in confidence)

Original Request

'The response to the public consultation Major changes in the new Education Bill states that the DESC received 7 responses by post and email. Please provide copies of these 7 responses whose consent has been given to publish the response'.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

6th March 2018

Dear

Re: Freedom of Information Request – Reference Number FoIDESC002

Your Request:- “The response to the public consultation Major changes in the new Education Bill states that the DESC received 7 responses by post and email.

Please provide copies of these 7 responses whose consent has been given to publish the response”.

Department Response:- The Department is able to provide you with the following information:

Following receipt of the seven manual (post and email) submissions three respondents have expressly given permission to publish their responses. As a result of your enquiry we have identified that the publication status for all of these manual responses had not been set to ‘allow publication’ following their manual entry into the consultation hub. However I can confirm their details were included and considered in the Department’s quantitative and qualitative analysis of all responses received.

The non-publication of these submissions was a genuine oversight and one which we are happy to correct. The publication status of these submissions will be amended on the consultation hub pages when we are technically able to do so, but copies of those which we are able to publish are enclosed, as requested.

I regret that we are unable to publish the contents of the remaining four responses as to publish the responses where respondents did not expressly say we could do, would be contrary to their wishes and is subject to an exemption under s26 of the Act (information provided in confidence). However one of the responses includes a document titled ‘Home Education and Human Rights on the Isle of Man’ by Allan Norman which is reasonably accessible to you by other means, on page 29 of the following web-link:-

https://www.gov.im/media/1360453/childrens-champion-report-2016-2017.pdf

The information provided within this response letter will also be published on the Government website in due course should you wish to revisit the information.

Department of Education Sport and Culture

Rheynn Ynsee, Spoyrt as Cultoor Chief Executive Officer Ronald Barr

Department of Education, Sport and Culture Hamilton House Peel Road Douglas IM1 5EZ Direct Dial No:

Website: www.gov.im/desc Email:

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 Review/Complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post to:

Mr Andrew Shipley, Legal and Administration Manager, Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 5EZ.

An electronic version of our Review/Complaint form can be found by going to https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information/

Your Review/Complaint 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 conducted.

Appeal Process

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; 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 rights to review is on the Information Commissioner’s website at https://www.inforights.im/contact-us/

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

Yours sincerely