Centralisation of secondary legislation drafting

Summary

The requester sought documents and details regarding the centralisation of secondary legislation drafting agreed by the Council of Ministers in February 2019, including consultation records and implementation plans. The provided response text is incomplete and cuts off mid-sentence, preventing a determination of what information was actually disclosed or withheld.

Key Facts

• The Council of Ministers agreed to centralise secondary legislation drafting in February 2019.
• The decision was made following an earlier agreement by the Chief Officers' Group.
• The stated aims of centralisation were to enhance resources, improve resilience, and develop expertise.
• The FOI request was received by the Cabinet Office on 29 July 2019.
• The response letter provided in the text is truncated and does not contain the final outcome or disclosed information.

Data Disclosed

• February 2019
• 29 July 2019
• 5 September 2019
• 2019-10-24
• 2019-07-29
• 3
• 1
• 904493

Original Request

In February 2019 Council of Ministers agreed to the centralisation of secondary legislation. The 'Extract of Proceedings in the Council of Ministers during February 2019' states that - 'Council considered a paper submitted by the Cabinet Office and agreed, where appropriate, to the centralisation of secondary legislation drafting which would enhance resources, improve resilience and develop expertise.' I understand that this decision was made following the earlier agreement of the Chief Officers' Group. I would be grateful if you could provide me with the following - * the papers to the Chief Officers' Group and the Council of Ministers on the subject of centralisation of secondary legislation drafting; and * the relevant extracts from the minutes of the Chief Officers' Group meeting and (if more expansive than the extract reproduced above) the Council of Ministers' meeting at which the decisions were agreed. I also request any documentation (including emails) which records the following information - 1. details as to who was consulted prior to or during preparation of the Chief Officers' Group and Council of Ministers' papers and any responses by consultees or the gist of their responses; 2. details of any consideration given as to understanding or defining the role of legislation officers, consulting them about the proposals before the decision to centralise secondary legislation drafting was taken by the Council of Ministers or informing them about the decision after it was taken; 3. details of any changes made to the proposals following consideration of the papers by the Chief Officers' Group and the Council of Ministers, and if so the nature of those changes; 4. details as to who is responsible for implementing the proposals; 5. details as to any consideration given at any time to the possible difficulties of centralising secondary legislation drafting, particularly (1) the fact that the main role of many officers involved in secondary legislation drafting may be policy development and other duties with only a minority of their time being spent drafting secondary legislation; and (2) the danger that if legislation officers are centralised Departments may lose their policy officers while at the same time retaining statutory responsibility for those officers' areas of policy; 6. details as to any consideration given at any time to exempting any particular sections or officers from centralisation, and if so which sections or officers, and the rationale for that and any representations received which might concern the same; and 7. information as to whether the current centralisation proposals being pursued are identical to the proposals agreed by the Council of Ministers (reproduced above) and, if they have changed, (for example, by proposing to centralise officers whose predominant role is other than secondary legislation drafting) what the differences are and why, and whether the Council of Ministers has been advised of and agreed to any such revised proposals. I thank you in anticipation of your response.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Government Office Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3PN Telephone: (+44) 01624 686244 Website: www.gov.im/co

Our ref: 904493 5 September 2019

Dear ###

We write further to your request received on 29 July 2019 which states:

"In February 2019 Council of Ministers agreed to the centralisation of secondary legislation. The 'Extract of Proceedings in the Council of Ministers during February 2019' states that - 'Council considered a paper submitted by the Cabinet Office and agreed, where appropriate, to the centralisation of secondary legislation drafting which would enhance resources, improve resilience and develop expertise.' I understand that this decision was made following the earlier agreement of the Chief Officers' Group. I would be grateful if you could provide me with the following - * the papers to the Chief Officers' Group and the Council of Ministers on the subject of centralisation of secondary legislation drafting; and * the relevant extracts from the minutes of the Chief Officers' Group meeting and (if more expansive than the extract reproduced above) the Council of Ministers' meeting at which the decisions were agreed. I also request any documentation (including emails) which records the following information - 1. details as to who was consulted prior to or during preparation of the Chief Officers' Group and Council of Ministers' papers and any responses by consultees or the gist of their responses; 2. details of any consideration given as to understanding or defining the role of legislation officers, consulting them about the proposals before the decision to centralise secondary legislation drafting was taken by the Council of Ministers or informing them about the decision after it was taken; 3. details of any changes made to the proposals following consideration of the papers by the Chief Officers' Group and the Council of Ministers, and if so the nature of those changes; 4. details as to who is responsible for implementing the proposals;

1. details as to any consideration given at any time to the possible difficulties of centralising secondary legislation drafting, particularly (1) the fact that the main role of many officers involved in secondary legislation drafting may be policy development and other duties with only a minority of their time being spent drafting secondary legislation; and (2) the danger that if legislation officers are centralised Departments may lose their policy officers while at the same time retaining statutory responsibility for those officers' areas of policy;
2. details as to any consideration given at any time to exempting any particular sections or officers from centralisation, and if so which sections or officers, and the rationale for that and any representations received which might concern the same; and
3. information as to whether the current centralisation proposals being pursued are identical to the proposals agreed by the Council of Ministers (reproduced above) and, if they have changed, (for example, by proposing to centralise officers whose predominant role is other than secondary legislation drafting) what the differences are and why, and whether the Council of Ministers has been advised of and agreed to any such revised proposals. I thank you in anticipation of your response."

Please find attached the recorded information which falls into the scope of your request.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under section 20 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (the Act), we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you, whether free of charge or on payment of a fee. Discussions falling into the scope of your request where held by the Chief Officer Group meetings of 25 January and 25 June 2019. The minutes of the Chief Officer Group are published on the Isle of Man Government website www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/cabinet-office/the-office-of- the-chief-secretary/ 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 Cabinet Office is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and • The Cabinet Office 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 Cabinet Office 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. Please quote the reference number 904493 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