Dog Warden

Summary

The requester asked for annual costs and working hours for the Dog Warden service over the last 15 years. The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture provided cost and hour details for contracted services between 2011 and 2017 but stated that specific cost and hour data for internal Pest Control Officers since 2014 is not held.

Key Facts

• Between 2011 and 2014, an external contractor provided the Dog Warden service for £50,000 per annum.
• In 2014, Pest Control Officers were authorized as dog wardens and perform duties alongside their normal 37-hour work week.
• From 2014 to 2017, an external contractor provided an 'out of hours' service for £9,807 per annum.
• The Department does not record the specific number of hours Pest Control Officers spend on dog warden duties.
• The Department holds data on the number of 'dog at large' cases allocated to officers from 2014 to 2019.

Data Disclosed

• £50,000 pa
• £9,807 pa
• 45 hours a week (April to September)
• 35 hours a week (October to March)
• 15 hours outside 09.00-17.00
• 12 hours on weekends/bank holidays per 4 weeks
• 37 hours Monday to Friday
• 189 cases (2014)
• 274 cases (2015)
• 254 cases (2016)
• 180 cases (2017)
• 100 cases (2018)
• 8 cases (2019 to 28th January)
• 11th October 2011
• 21 January 2019
• 8th February 2019

Exemptions Cited

• Section 8(3) of the Freedom of Information Act (not required to create or derive information)
• Information not held in a way that enables a direct answer

Original Request

Please provide the total value of costs incurred annually per annum for the last 15 years. E.g £50k in 2012, £35k in 2013 plus the number of hours per day this relates to, e.g. in 2013 this service was provided 9 hrs daily Monday to Friday and 5 hrs daily on weekends and bank holidays.

Data Tables (1)

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: 711665 8th February 2019

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 21 January 2019 and which states:

"Please provide the total value of costs incurred annually per annum for the last 15 years. E.g. £50k in 2012, £35k in 2013 plus the number of hours per day this relates to, e.g. in 2013 this service was provided 9 hrs daily Monday to Friday and 5 hrs daily on weekends and bank holidays."

Our response to your request is as follows. The information you request is not held in a way that would enable us to provide a direct answer to your question and section 8(3) of the Freedom of Information Act states that the Department is not required to: (a) create or derive information from information that it holds; (b) undertake research into, or analysis of, information that it holds; In addition to that the Freedom of Information Act applies only to information created since the 11th October 2011. Any information predating that would be supplied under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. We have however searched our records and hold the information supplied below in relation to your request.

• Between 2011 and 2014 a Dog Warden service was provided by an external contractor. The cost for providing this service, which included kennelling for dogs collected as strays, was £50,000 pa. The hours specified were: - 45 hours a week April to September inclusive - 35 hours a week October to March inclusive - A minimum of 15 of those hours was expected to be outside of the hours 09.00-17.00 Monday to Friday inclusive - In any period of 4 weeks a minimum of 12 hours was expected to be spent on Saturdays, or Sundays or Bank Holidays. • In 2014 the Department’s Pest Control Officers (PCOs) were authorised as dog wardens under the Dogs Act 1990 and have carried out these duties alongside

their other work since that time. The PCOs have acted as dog wardens during their normal working week (37 hours Monday to Friday). • Between 2014 and 2017 an “out of hours” Dog Warden service was also provided for the Department by an external contractor. The cost for providing that service at the time was £9,807 pa. The hours specified were: - Monday to Friday 17.00 to 20.00. - Saturday 09.00 to 12.00. • Between 2014 to date, a kennelling service, for dogs collected as strays, has been provided for the Department by an external contractor. The Department does not hold information on the number of hours spent on dog warden duties by the PCOs as they undertake this work alongside a number of other duties.
The Department does hold information detailing the number of ‘dog at large’ cases per year which have been allocated to the PCOs since 2014. This is set out in the table below. Year Cases 2014 (from 1st July) 189 2015 274 2016 254 2017 180 2018 100 2019 (to 28th January) 8 However, only the number of cases is recorded; details of the time spent by the PCOs on these cases is not recorded and it should be noted that this can vary significantly. This is because there are a number of exacerbating factors when trying to calculate hours spent on “dog at large” cases: • Some dogs are not found, • Some can be very quickly returned to a nearby owner, • Some may take considerable time to capture and additional time to transport to the kennelling facilities. Therefore the Department does not hold, nor is it possible for us to identify, the total value of costs for the full dog warden service since 2014 as specified in your request. Please quote the reference number 711665 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