Oversight of SCAS Administrative Role of Port Erin Commissioners

Summary

The request sought documentation regarding the Department of Infrastructure's oversight of Port Erin Commissioners' administrative and HR roles at the Southern Civic Amenity Site. The response disclosed email correspondence between the Castletown and Rushen Clerks and the SCAS Board Clerk, revealing concerns over budget proposals and information flow, though the outcome indicates some information was exempt.

Key Facts

• The request targeted the Department of Infrastructure's authorization of Port Erin Commissioners for staffing and HR duties at the Southern Civic Amenity Site.
• Correspondence from December 2023 shows the Castletown Board concurred with the Department's position but opposed rolling over current arrangements without consultation.
• The Castletown Board expressed disappointment regarding insufficient information flow about SCAS operations back to their board.
• Emails from January 2020 document scheduling meetings between the SCAS Clerk and the Rushen Parish Clerk regarding parish contributions.
• The final outcome of the FOI request was 'Some information sent but part exempt'.

Data Disclosed

• 2025-07-14
• 2025-06-05
• 25
• 2
• 19 December 2023
• 15 Dec 2023
• 2024/25
• 17 January 2020
• 27th
• 10am
• 11:30
• 2020-21
• Section 25

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25

Original Request

FOI Request - Oversight of SCAS Administrative Role of Port Erin Commissioners To: Department of Infrastructure (DOI) Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 regarding the Department of Infrastructure's oversight of the administrative role undertaken by Port Erin Commissioners at the Southern Civic Amenity Site. 1. Authorisation and Delegation Copies of any correspondence, approvals, consents, or authorisations issued by the Department to either Port Erin Commissioners or the Southern Civic Amenity Board that: - Authorise or endorse Port Erin Commissioners to carry out employment, staffing, or HR-related responsibilities at the Southern Civic Amenity Site; - Delegate employment or management functions that would ordinarily fall within the remit of the Southern Civic Amenity Board; - Refer to legal responsibility or liability for employment matters associated with the site's administration. 2. Basis of Administrative Role Copies of any agreements, memoranda of understanding, or other formal documents held by the Department that explain or record the basis upon which Port Erin Commissioners assumed responsibility for staffing, recruitment, payroll, or HR management at the Southern Civic Amenity Site. 3. Policy Guidance Copies of any guidance, circulars, or policy communications issued by the Department that set out: - The permissible role of local authorities (including Commissioners) in managing staffing or employment functions on behalf of a joint board; - Departmental expectations or conditions relating to the governance and oversight of HR functions at civic amenity sites. 4. Concerns Raised by Other Authorities Copies of any concerns, objections, or correspondence received from other constituent authorities regarding Port Erin Commissioners undertaking administrative functions on behalf of the Southern Civic Amenity Board. Purpose of This Request: This request seeks to: - Clarify whether Port Erin Commissioners have been formally authorised by the Department to perform staffing and HR functions on behalf of the Southern Civic Amenity Board; - Establish whether the Department has issued any guidance or exercised oversight in relation to these functions; - Determine whether Port Erin Commissioners have assumed legal or practical responsibility for employment matters by virtue of their administrative role. Yours sincerely,

Data Tables (3)

Full Response Text

From: Castletown Comm Clerk To: Clerk Cc: CTC; Subject: Re: Letter on behalf of Southern Civic Amenity Site Board Date: 19 December 2023 11:01:48 Dear Jason, My board has reviewed your updated letter on the SCAS, discussed it at last night's meeting, and acknowledges your inquiry regarding potential interest in the administrative function tender. The board concurs with the Department of Infrastructures position and believes that the proposal to roll the current arrangements without consultation would not demonstrate value to our ratepayers. While not committing to a bid, they consider initiating a transparent tender process would be essential to enable them to thoroughly assess their position. They also believe that this may encourage suitable candidates beyond the local authority sphere. Moreover, my Chairman has asked me to highlight that there is a broader disappointment about the insufficient information flow regarding the operations of the SCAS back to this board. Best wishes Hugo On 15 Dec 2023, at 13:09, Clerk <

wrote: Afternoon Hugo, Please find letter attached on behalf of SCAS Board regarding revised budget for 2024/25. Please see note in bold in last paragraph of letter. Kind regards, Jason Jason Roberts Clerk to Southern Civic Amenity Site Board Tel: 01624 Web: www.scas.im WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e-mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible.  No employee or agent is authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the Board of the Southern Civic Amenity Site with any party by e-mail without express written confirmation by the Clerk to the Board or a person authorised by the Clerk. <20231215 CTC - Revised Budget Letter.pdf> From: Clerk To: Clerk Rushen Cc: RPC; Subject: Re: Letter on behalf of Southern Civic Amenity Site Board - 2020-21 Parish Contributions Date: 17 January 2020 16:55:18 Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links.  Hi Phil, Have had something pop up at 10am on 27th now. Happy to come to the Rushen office at around 11:30 if that suits. Have a good weekend. Jason From: Clerk Rushen <

Sent: 17 January 2020 16:04 To: Clerk <

Cc: RPC < ; <

Subject: Re: Letter on behalf of Southern Civic Amenity Site Board - 2020-21 Parish Contributions   Monday 27th at 10am would be fine if still available. Meet at PE Comms office? You’re always welcome at the Rushen Office of course! Phil Phil Gawne BSc (Hons) Clerk to the Rushen Parish Commissioners, Lamode, Rushen. 01624 07624 On 17 Jan 2020, at 10:09, Clerk < wrote: Morning Phil, Rushen's member Stan Pilling raised this at last nights meeting and the Board discussed this and the budget figure was explained.  Happy to meet to explain in more detail but am not available until w/c 27 Jan. I'm pretty flexible on that Monday anytime after 10am if you would like to suggest a time to suit you. Regards, Jason From: Clerk Rushen <

Sent: 16 January 2020 22:18 To: Clerk

Cc: RPC < ;   <

Subject: Re: Letter on behalf of Southern Civic Amenity Site Board - 2020-21 Parish Contributions   Thanks Jason. At their meeting last night the Commissioners asked a number of questions about the finances you presented to me. The Commissioners were particularly concerned to note that costs increased while the level of onsite operation has diminished. The Commissioners would be pleased therefore if you could spare some time to talk me through the figures you have provided and hopefully assuage the Commissioners’ concerns. Many thanks in advance of your assistance in this matter. Phil Phil Gawne BSc (Hons) Clerk to the Rushen Parish Commissioners, Lamode, Rushen. Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 clerk@rushen.gov.im 01624 07624 On 13 Dec 2019, at 14:53, Clerk < wrote: Afternoon Phil,  Please find attached letter on behalf of the SCASB regarding 2020-21 Parish Contributions. If you have any queries, please feel free to get in touch. Please note this letter has only been sent electronically. Regards, Jason Jason Roberts Clerk to Southern Civic Amenity Site Board Tel: Web: www.southernamenitysite.com WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e-mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible.     No employee or agent is authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the Board of the Southern Civic Amenity Site with any party by e-mail without express written confirmation by the Clerk to the Board or a person authorised by the Clerk.   <20191213 SCAS Parish Contributions 20-21 RPC.pdf> Section 25 Section 25 Section 25 Section 25

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

Contact: FOI Response Team Telephone: (01624) 686785 Email: dpo-doi@gov.im

Our ref: 4709021 9 July 2025

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 5 June 2025, which states:

"FOI Request - Oversight of SCAS Administrative Role of Port Erin Commissioners

To: Department of Infrastructure (DOI)

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 regarding the

Department of Infrastructure's oversight of the administrative role undertaken by Port Erin Commissioners at the Southern Civic Amenity Site.

1. Authorisation and Delegation

Copies of any correspondence, approvals, consents, or authorisations issued by the Department to either Port Erin Commissioners or the Southern Civic Amenity Board that: - Authorise or endorse Port Erin Commissioners to carry out employment, staffing, or HR-related responsibilities at the Southern Civic Amenity Site; - Delegate employment or management functions that would ordinarily fall within the remit of the Southern Civic Amenity Board; - Refer to legal responsibility or liability for employment matters associated with the site's administration.

1. Basis of Administrative Role

Copies of any agreements, memoranda of understanding, or other formal documents held by the Department that explain or record the basis upon which Port Erin Commissioners assumed responsibility for staffing, recruitment, payroll, or HR management at the Southern Civic Amenity Site.

1. Policy Guidance

Copies of any guidance, circulars, or policy communications issued by the Department that set out:

• The permissible role of local authorities (including Commissioners) in managing staffing or employment functions on behalf of a joint board;

• Departmental expectations or conditions relating to the governance and oversight of HR functions at civic amenity sites.

• Concerns Raised by Other Authorities

Copies of any concerns, objections, or correspondence received from other constituent authorities regarding Port Erin Commissioners undertaking administrative functions on behalf of the Southern Civic Amenity Board.

Purpose of This Request:

This request seeks to:

• Clarify whether Port Erin Commissioners have been formally authorised by the Department to perform staffing and HR functions on behalf of the Southern Civic Amenity Board;
• Establish whether the Department has issued any guidance or exercised oversight in relation to these functions;
• Determine whether Port Erin Commissioners have assumed legal or practical responsibility for employment matters by virtue of their administrative role.

Yours sincerely,"

Our response to your request is as follows: I have provided a detailed response below addressing your questions

1. The Department has no records of any correspondence, approvals, or permissions given to either the Port Erin Commissioners or the Southern Civic Amenity Site Board that would authorize or endorse Port Erin in handling employment, staffing, or HR matters at the Southern Civic Amenity Site. Additionally, there is no documentation relating to the delegation of employment or management duties that would normally be the responsibility of the Southern Civic Amenity Site Board, nor anything indicating legal accountability or liability for employment matters connected to the site’s administration.

2. The Department only holds copies of the following formal documents that explain or record the basis upon which Port Erin Commissioners assumed responsibility for staffing, recruitment, payroll or HR management at the Southern Civic Amenity Site.

• Letter/email informing the Department of the process taken
• Decision paper re Clerk and RFO approval
• Approval letter to SCAS • Approval letter to Port Erin

The Department is aware of an approval sought and given in 2019 for the Clerk of Port Erin Commissioners to be appointed Clerk and RFO of the Southern

Civic Amenity Site Board and at the same time Port Erin (from 1st November 2019) would take on the administration role for the Board.

The sole indication as far as our records show that includes reference to the responsibility for HR and other matters referred to in your question is the attached Tender process documentation. In 2019 a tender process was carried out where each Local Authority within the constituent authorities of the Board (Arbory and Rushen, Castletown, Malew, Port Erin and Port St Mary) were offered the chance to tender for the administration of the Amenity Site (this was completed in Autumn 2019) and following a successful bid process Port Erin took over the role from the previous administrators Port St Mary.

1. There are currently no guidance documents or circulars or policy communications that specifically reference a permissible role for local authorities to manage staff or employment functions on behalf of a joint board or that set out Departmental expectations or conditions relating to the governance and oversight of HR functions at civic amenity sites. However the governance of the Southern Civic Amenity Site Board is carried out under the auspices of the Southern Civic Amenity Site Board Order 2000 https://legislation.gov.im/cms/images/LEGISLATION/SUBORDINATE/2000/2000 -0058/2000-0058_2.pdf

2. Appendix 1 contains two email threads referencing concerns related to the arrangements within the Board. The Department confirms that it holds no additional information regarding concerns, objections, or correspondence about the Port Erin Commissioners performing administrative functions on behalf of the Southern Amenity Site Board. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information). The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • The Department of Infrastructure is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and • The Department of Infrastructure is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that the Department of Infrastructure can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

Furthermore, some information is also exempt from disclosure under Section 30(1)(b) of the Act as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the financial interests of the island. Disclosure would be likely to cause harm as it contains figures and commercially sensitive details relating to tendering processes between public authorities and local authorities.

As section 30 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large.

Factors in favour of disclosure • Promotes transparency and accountability in the use of public funds. • Enables public understanding of how government departments and local authorities manage tendering and financial arrangements.

Factors in favour of withholding • Disclosure is likely to prejudice the financial interests of the Isle of Man by undermining confidence in the tendering process. • Protecting financial interests supports sustainable funding and delivery of essential public services. • Protecting sensitive information helps sustain positive working relationships essential for successful contract delivery.

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

Please quote the reference number 4709021 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 deta

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