Advocates Fees Committee

Summary

The requester asked for the last three Advocates Fees Committee meeting records and member details, but the General Registry only held and disclosed minutes from a single meeting in October 2024, stating other records were not held or could not be found.

Key Facts

• The General Registry does not hold information on previous members appointed by the Law Society and Council of Ministers.
• The Committee meets biennially, with the next meeting scheduled before October 2026.
• The First Deemster is confirmed as a current and former member of the Committee.
• Only the minutes from the meeting held on 8th October 2024 were provided.
• The authority stated it could not find the requested agendas and attachments for previous meetings after taking reasonable steps.

Data Disclosed

• 4678237
• 2025-05-21
• 2025-06-05
• 2025-06-26
• 8th October 2024
• October 2026
• 3
• 2
• 4

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held or cannot be found after taking reasonable steps

Original Request

Please supply the previous 3 committee meeting dates, agendas, any attachments and minutes and the actual or estimated next committee meeting and the present and the most recent previous members of the committee.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

General Registry Oik- Recortyssee Chief Registrar
Stuart Quayle

Isle of Man Courts of Justice Deemsters Walk, Bucks Road Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3AR

Telephone:
(01624) 685979 Email: DPO- GenReg@gov.im

Our ref: 4678237 5 June 2025

Dear ####

We write further to your request, received 21 May 2025, which states:

"Please supply the previous 3 committee meeting dates, agendas, any attachments and minutes and the actual or estimated next committee meeting and the present and the most recent previous members of the committee."

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. There is no set date for the next meeting. The Committee are to meet biennially, the next meeting will be before October 2026. The First Deemster is a current and naturally former member as all First Deemsters are. We do not hold information on previous members appointed by the Law Society and Council of Ministers, you may wish to direct your questions on this point to these bodies. Please find attached the Minutes of a meeting held on 8th October 2024. Please quote the reference number 4678237 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.

Yours sincerely

FOI Co-ordinator

General Registry Oik- Recortyssee Chief Registrar
Stuart Quayle Isle of Man Courts of Justice Deemsters Walk, Bucks Road Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3AR

Telephone:
(01624) 685979 Email: DPO- GenReg@gov.im

Our ref: 4678237 26th June 2025

Dear #####

We write further to your request received 21 May 2025, which states:

"Please supply the previous 3 committee meeting dates, agendas, any attachments and minutes and the actual or estimated next committee meeting and the present and the most recent previous members of the committee."

Our original response to your request was as follows dated June 5th 2025:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. There is no set date for the next meeting. The Committee are to meet biennially, the next meeting will be before October 2026. The First Deemster is a current and naturally former member as all First Deemsters are. We do not hold information on previous members appointed by the Law Society and Council of Ministers, you may wish to direct your questions on this point to these bodies. Please find attached the Minutes of a meeting held on 8th October 2024.

Further to your request for an internal review dated June 5th 2025 stating:

It appears incredible that such historically and legally important previous meeting agendas, papers considered and minutes either exist unindexed/unlocateable or have been destroyed to overzealously declutter (maximise available storage space) or whatever. Is it or is it not a requirement to properly document such pivotal meetings and to properly preserve such records under the Civil Service Code, the Public Records Act, corporate governance framework or other provisions? I and others have received details of search efforts in such circumstances previously from public authorities so that would be helpful in relation to such an incomplete and inadequate response. It

would be helpful to indicate the quantified or unquantified scale/percentage of public records presently unindexed/unlocateable and the strategy to address any such maladministration.

An internal review was conducted by a different officer within the General Registry and a separate search conducted by GTS (Government Technology Services) found the following:

No additional records were identified.

Please quote the reference number 4678237 in any future communications.

Your right to appeal to the Information Commissioner:

If you are not satisfied with the result of this internal 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.

Yours sincerely

FOI Co-ordinator