Isle of Man Law Society quarterly meeting agendas/attachments/minutes

Summary

The requester asked for agendas, attachments, and minutes of quarterly meetings between the Department of Home Affairs and the Isle of Man Law Society from 2019 to the present. The authority disclosed informal notes from 2023 to 2025 but withheld earlier records and specific details citing exemptions for public business and personal information.

Key Facts

• The Department of Home Affairs and the Law Society hold informal quarterly meetings to discuss matters of mutual interest.
• No formal agendas or minutes exist for these meetings; only informal notes are captured.
• Records of these informal notes only began to be kept in 2023, meaning no information is held for the 2019-2022 period requested.
• Some information was withheld under Section 35 of the Act to protect the effective conduct of public business and uninhibited policy-making.
• Additional redactions were applied to protect personal identifying information under Section 25(2)(a).

Data Disclosed

• 2019
• 2023
• 2025
• 1st January 2019
• 6 October 2025
• 13 November 2025
• 4978391
• Section 35
• Section 25(2)(a)

Exemptions Cited

• Section 35 (prejudice to effective conduct of public business)
• Section 25(2)(a) (personal identifying information)

Original Request

Please confirm the start date of the quarterly meetings and supply the Isle of Man Law Society quarterly meeting agendas, agenda attachments and minutes referenced in the Legal Aid Steering Group minutes from 1st January 2019 to date as the minimum period to cover the HM Attorney General John Quinn review, lockdown issues and the LASG review. I have identified from Treasury Minister hosted meetings minutes that DHA participate in quarterly meetings with only DHA and only Isle of Man Law Society represented. Please clarify if either all or any of those meetings have been hosted by DHA. Each time anyone from DHA participates in such a quarterly meeting with agendas and attachments and minutes in a DHA capacity and supplies anything from DHA to circulate then that clearly is DHA activity within scope.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information Coordinator DHA Headquarters Tromode Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM2 5AP

Telephone: (01624) 687017 Web address: www.gov.im/dha
Email: DPO-DHA@dha.gov.im

Our ref: 4978391 13 November 2025

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 6 October 2025, which states:

"Please confirm the start date of the quarterly meetings and supply the Isle of Man Law Society quarterly meeting agendas, agenda attachments and minutes referenced in the Legal Aid Steering Group minutes from 1st January 2019 to date as the minimum period to cover the HM Attorney General John Quinn review, lockdown issues and the LASG review.

I have identified from Treasury Minister hosted meetings minutes that DHA participate in quarterly meetings with only DHA and only Isle of Man Law Society represented.

Please clarify if either all or any of those meetings have been hosted by DHA.

Each time anyone from DHA participates in such a quarterly meeting with agendas and attachments and minutes in a DHA capacity and supplies anything from DHA to circulate then that clearly is DHA activity within scope."

Our response to your request is as follows: I have detailed below the information.

Please find attached all meeting minutes and notes captured from meetings between the Department of Home Affairs and the Law Society ranging from 2023 to 2025.

Under our duty to provide advice and assistance, the Department can confirm the DHA and Law Society meetings are informal meetings, held every quarter. They allow matters of mutual interest to be discussed. As such there is no formal agenda or minutes, but issues are captured as they arise, and updates are discussed at meetings.

The department captures informal notes, and these are what are held. These only started to be used in 2023 and so the records provided represent the totality of the information held.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance some of the information is exempt under section 35 of the Act, as disclosure would be likely to otherwise prejudice the effective conduct of public business.

As section 35 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be of serious concern and benefit to the public at large.

Factors in favour of disclosure public interest in transparency and accountability

Factors in favour of withholding the public interest in maintaining a robust and uninhibited policy-making process outweighs the interest in disclosure.

Protecting the space for free and frank discussion ensures better-informed decisions that serve the public effectively.

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

Additional redactions have also been applied within some records due to them containing personal identifying information (25(2)(a)).

Please quote the reference number 4978391 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.