Information Commissioner orders DoI to revisit refused Festival of Motoring request

The Information Commissioner has ruled against the Department of Infrastructure over its refusal of a Freedom of Information request about the Isle of Man Festival of Motoring, Manx Radio has reported.

Dr Alexandra Delaney-Bhattacharya, who oversees compliance with the island’s freedom of information law, found that the public interest factors the department relied on were broad and irrelevant. She has directed it to release the material or to give the applicant a properly reasoned refusal.

The request, made in October 2025, sought event plans for 2024 and 2025. The department withheld everything as commercially sensitive and upheld that position on internal review. The 2024 documents were later released to the applicant under data protection access rights.

The Commissioner said the department had applied “a blanket exemption to all information” without showing it had assessed individual documents to see whether redactions might have been appropriate. She added that the factors it cited did not demonstrate specific prejudice in this case.

Delays criticised

According to Manx Radio, the department used three extensions before answering the original request on the 32nd working day. It then took 151 working days to complete its internal review.

The Commissioner acknowledged that the FoI Act does not set a deadline for internal reviews. She nevertheless described the delay as unacceptable.

She also rejected the department’s argument that a 58-page document given to the applicant fell within a data subject access request. She noted there was no evidence that such a request had been made and said the material was commercial information.

The Commissioner recorded that the department had consulted a third party and released a document indicating that party likely knew who the requester was. The decision notice suggested the department should assess whether a data breach had occurred.

A DoI spokesperson told Manx Radio the department acknowledged the decision notice and was considering how it handles Freedom of Information requests.