Subsidies for IoM Dairy industry

Summary

A request for data on dairy subsidies, industry income, pollution cleanup costs, and cow numbers was partially fulfilled, with specific grant figures provided for IOM Creameries while other data was withheld as not held or publicly available.

Key Facts

• The Department does not provide direct subsidies to IOM Creameries but has issued grants for business efficiency and benchmarking.
• Gross income and GDP contribution data for the dairy industry is not held by the Department.
• The Department does not clean up dairy-related pollution, as this is the responsibility of the farmer.
• Dairy cow numbers are publicly available via the annual agricultural census and were exempt from release under the FOI Act.
• The Food Matters Strategy published in 2015 contains some details on the dairy industry.

Data Disclosed

• 2013/14: 31,567.28
• 2014/15: 2,593.14
• 2015/16: 0
• 2016/17: 7,679.82
• 2017/18: 21,783.67
• 2018-11-19
• 2018-11-28
• 2015
• 2013

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held or cannot be found after reasonable steps
• Information reasonably accessible to the applicant (absolute exemption)

Original Request

Please could you provide the following: i) total subsidy amount given to the dairy cooperative that is the Isle of Man Creameries, per annum for the last 5 years. ii) gross income of the Island's dairy industry per annum, for the last 5 years, and the subsequent GDP (%) contribution to the Island's economy. iii) department expenditure on cleaning up dairy-related incidents of pollution, per annum for the last 5 years. iv) total number of dairy cows on Island per annum, since 2013.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator Corporate Services Directorate Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road, St John’s, Isle of Man, IM4 3AS Tel no (01624) 685854 Fax no (01624 685851 Email: defa@gov.im www.gov.im

Our ref: 657565 28th November 2018

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on the 19th November 2018 and which states:

"Please could you provide the following: i) total subsidy amount given to the dairy cooperative that is the Isle of Man Creameries, per annum for the last 5 years. ii) gross income of the Island's dairy industry per annum, for the last 5 years, and the subsequent GDP (%) contribution to the Island's economy. iii) department expenditure on cleaning up dairy-related incidents of pollution, per annum for the last 5 years. iv) total number of dairy cows on Island per annum, since 2013."

Response 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. I have detailed below the information that is held. Your question: i) total subsidy amount given to the dairy cooperative that is the Isle of Man Creameries, per annum for the last 5 years. Response The Department does not provide “subsidies” per se to IOM Creamery. It has however provided some support in the form of grants over the period you request. These have been provided in line with the terms of the Agriculture & Fisheries Grant Scheme; (information on which can be found via the link below) and have been utilised for specific business efficiency improvements and specific work such as benchmarking.

LINK https://www.gov.im/categories/business-and-industries/agriculture/agriculture- and-fisheries-grant-scheme/ IOM Creamery grants and payments (not subsidies) financial year net £ exc. VAT 2013/14 31,567.28 2014/15 2,593.14 2015/16 0 2016/17 7,679.82 2017/18 21,783.67 Your question: ii) gross income of the Island's dairy industry per annum, for the last 5 years, and the subsequent GDP (%) contribution to the Island's economy. Response The Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find this information. For your further information however the Food Matters Strategy was published in 2015 and provides some detail of the dairy industry from page 59. LINK http://www.tynwald.org.im/business/opqp/sittings/Tynwald%2020142016/201 4-GD-0076.pdf Your question: iii) department expenditure on cleaning up dairy-related incidents of pollution, per annum for the last 5 years. Response The Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find this information. The Department does not clean up dairy related pollution from farms as that would be the responsibility of the farmer. Your question: iv) total number of dairy cows on Island per annum, since 2013." Response This information is already publically available as part of the annual census and is published here https://www.gov.im/media/1354307/agricultural-and- horticultural-census-2003-2017-v2.pdf. Information that is reasonably accessible to the applicant, whether free of charge or on payment of a fee, is absolutely exempt from release and so does not have to be provided separately in response to an FoI request.

Please quote the reference number 657565 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