Engagement Hub

You what you think about the concessionary fares system, and in particular, whether:

• There are any other groups of people who you feel should be eligible for a disability (Go Gold, Go Gold Plus) travel concession;
• Should someone be eligible for a disability travel concession after reaching the age of eligibility for a senior (Go Silver) travel concession, and;
• Whether there are any other groups of students who you feel should be eligible for a Go College Travel concession?

The consultation generated a significant level of interest, and received a total of 863 responses. Of those, 10.9% were received from people with a disability, 9.7% were from a friend or family member with a disability, 47% were from seniors, and 23.4% were from students or a parent with a child at school or UCM.

The majority of respondents (64%) felt that eligibility for a Go Gold travel concession should be available after reaching the age of eligibility for a senior travel concession, with 74% of the view that the Go Gold travel concession should be available if the disability arises after state pension age.   

A number of additional groups of people were suggested who should be eligible for a disability travel concession, including invisible disabilities; autism; anxiety; mental health issues and people suffering from epilepsy/seizures.

Suggestions for other groups of students who should be eligible for a Go College Travel concession included all full-time students at UCM, low income students of any age, part-time students at UCM, apprentices and anyone on JSA seeking to improve their skills. 

The “further comments” section of the consultation generated a wide ranging response, including free bus travel for all, means testing; charging a nominal amount for a concessionary fare, and reference to the importance of bus travel in reducing climate impact.

The consultation responses received will require detailed analysis and discussions with the appropriate Departments of Government, including the Department of Health & Social Care, the Department of Education and the Treasury regarding the practical and financial implications. This process will take place over the summer period, and will be available for further consideration by the next political administration following the September 2021 national elections.

In the meantime, the Department will change its concessionary fares policy from August 2021 to allow Go Gold card disability concessions to continue past retirement. Applications will be welcomed from former Go Gold travel card holders, whose expired cards were replaced with a Go Silver travel concession card. New Go Gold cards will be issued to these applicants subject to meeting the disability concessionary travel criteria. 

We asked

The purpose of the consultation was to seek views about the draft Liquor Licensing and Public Entertainments Bill 2021.

The present alcohol licensing regime on the Island was recognised to be outdated, overly bureaucratic and inflexible.  The structure of a new piece of licensing legislation was finalised into a draft Bill, following an earlier consultation on the policy behind future legislation, and the opportunity to comment on the draft Bill was provided within the consultation document. 

Additional information about the regime that was likely to be put in places along with possible types of licence and other useful information was provided within the “talking points” section of the consultation document.  The general timelines for the possible enactment of the draft Bill, if it should be successfully progressed, were also included within the consultation document.

You said

The Department received 321 responses, of which –

• 12 were on behalf of an organisation; and,

• 309 were from individuals.

The Department was grateful to the many individuals and organisations who responded to the consultation either by submitting a formal response which was counted in the number of responses above, or by more informal engagement with officers of the Department.

All responses received during the consultation period have been carefully considered, and were valuable in both ensuring general satisfaction with the draft Bill as it was publicly consulted upon, and in identifying some modifications that were needed or might improve that Bill when it was finalised for introduction into the House of Keys.

The Department did received informal views from a number of key stakeholders and interested parties during the consultation period and these parties who either met with officers, or expressed an informal view in writing, were invited to make formal representation in response to the consultation if they wished to do so.  Any views shared informally have not formed part of the summary of consultation responses, but all responses were welcomed and have been carefully considered by the Department in finalising the Bill, and, in many cases, provided additional useful insight or suggested improvement to that Bill.

In the interests of comprehensively summarising the views which were formally provided, along with the main points which have been incorporated into the finalised Bill, a summary of responses document has been generated and made available via a link in the Files section below.

The Liquor Licensing and Public Entertainment Bill 2021 has now been finalised and was introduced into the House of Keys on Tuesday 11 May 2021 for first reading, and can be found on the Tynwald Website

We asked for views on a Bill to -

• enable the application of UK animal welfare legislation to the Island;
   
• the making of secondary legislation to support the implementation of the applied UK legislation; and
   
• to provide for greater protections for mountain hares.

We received 1,109 responses to the consultation, which were supportive of the Bill's purpose of applying UK animal welfare legislation.

However, the responses also indicated significant support for greater legal protections to be given to mountain hares than were provided for in the Bill.

A consultation summary, with respect to all responses submitted and actions taken by the Department as a consequence, has been published on the consultation page.

In light of the feedback from the consultation a revised Animal Welfare Bill was submitted for first and second reading in the House of Keys on Tuesday 27 April 2021.

The Department will also give further consideration to the policy issues identified by this consultation that did not form part of this Bill.