Expenditure on single use plastics within the department

Summary

A request for expenditure figures on single-use plastics within the Department for Enterprise was refused because the department does not individually record such costs and compiling them would require substantial manual collation. The response noted that the department has appointed a champion for this issue and the government is developing a reduction plan.

Key Facts

• The Department for Enterprise does not individually record expenditure specifically on plastic items.
• Complying with the request would require substantial compilation or collation of information not required under the Act.
• Calculating costs would involve retrieving individual invoices from the Treasury and manually collating data.
• The Department has appointed a champion to work on reducing single-use plastics.
• The Isle of Man Government is developing a single-use plastics reduction plan.

Data Disclosed

• 2018-04-27
• 2018-05-25
• 451134
• FOIA 2015

Exemptions Cited

• Substantial compilation or collation of information

Original Request

To whom it may concern, Under the the FOIA 2015, I am requesting the provision of figures of Department expenditure on single use plastics, including but not limited to; plastic cups, plastic straws, cutlery, coffee stirrers and bin liners and bags. I look forward to your response within the statutory time limits. Best Regards Aaron Ibanez

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Page 1 of 2

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

Telephone: (01624) 685375 Website: www.gov.im/dfe Email: steven.tallach@gov.im

Our ref: 451134 25 May 2018

Dear ###

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

We write further to your request which was received on 27 April 2018 and which states:

"To whom it may concern, Under the the FOIA 2015, I am requesting the provision of figures of Department expenditure on single use plastics, including but not limited to; plastic cups, plastic straws, cutlery, coffee stirrers and bin liners and bags. I look forward to your response within the statutory time limits.” While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, complying with your request for information would require Department for Enterprise to undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds which the Department is not required to do under the Act. The Department does not individually record information on expenditure specifically on plastic items, let alone single use plastics. For example, plastic pens ordered may be recorded as "stationery", though other items may also be included. To calculate the costs would involve retrieving individual invoices from the Treasury and manually collating the information on particular items. However, you may be interested to know that the Department for Enterprise has recently also appointed its own champion to work across the Department on this important topic to build on the work it has already done to reduce the use of single use plastics. In addition, the Chief Minister recently announced that Isle of Man Government is currently developing a single use plastics reduction plan and working across Departments to reduce the use of single use plastics and replace with sustainable alternatives. Page 2 of 2 Please quote the reference number 451134 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.
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Yours faithfully