Visit IOM Chairman Resignation

Summary

A request was made for correspondence regarding the resignation of the Visit Isle of Man Board Chairman, including his reasons and resignation letter. The Department for Enterprise refused to disclose any information, citing an absolute exemption for personal data under Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015.

Key Facts

• The request concerned the resignation of the Chairman of the Visit Isle of Man Board.
• The Department for Enterprise determined the information was absolutely exempt.
• The exemption was based on the information being personal data of a third party.
• Disclosure was deemed to contravene data protection principles under the GDPR.
• The response was issued on 21 July 2025, taking one hour to complete.

Data Disclosed

• 4742961
• 2025-06-23
• 2025-07-21
• Section 25
• Article 5
• Article 6
• Article 9
• one hour

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25 – absolutely exempt personal information
• Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018
• Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation

Original Request

With the recent resignation of the Chairman of the Visit Isle of Man Board, I'd like all the correspondence regarding his resignation, including his reason for resigning and his letter of resignation.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

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: 4742961 21 July 2025

Dear ###,

We write further to your request, received 23 June 2025, which states:

"With the recent resignation of the Chairman of the Visit Isle of Man Board, I'd like all the correspondence regarding his resignation, including his reason for resigning and his letter of resignation."

Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide any of the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act:

Section 25 – absolutely exempt personal information s25(b)(i)&(ii) The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • The Department for Enterprise is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and

• The Department for Enterprise 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 for Enterprise can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and one of the conditions in Article 9 of the GDPR and Schedule 2 of the Implementing Regulations is met, and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

Please quote the reference number 4742961 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.

This response took one hour to complete.