The Commission sought views on its recommendation for the Future Constitution of the Communications Commission.
In total 5 responses were received: 3 responses from Licensed Operators and 2 from MHKs.
The next stage of the process will now involve reviewing all responses received in order to further inform, guide and enable the Commission to put a recommendation on its future structure before Tynwald for its consideration. The Commission will publish a Response to Consultation in the near future.
The Communications Commission sought your views on proposals for the definition of relevant telecommunications markets, Significant Market Power determinations and proposed obligations to remedy identified competition issues.
In total 3 responses were received: 2 from Licensed Operators and one individual response
The Communications Commission is now considering your responses and conducting a review of the final decisions with the intention of publishing a final Response to Consultation in the near future.
We asked for views on proposed increases to fees payable to the Authority from 1 April 2020 in line with inflation.
We received four responses, however no significant issues were raised.
The new fees are due to come into operation on 1 April 2020, subject to the necessary Tynwald procedure.
We sought views and feedback on two proposed new Bills, namely the “Registration of Electors Bill 2020” and “Elections (Keys and Local Authorities) Bill 2020”, via the public consultation “Modernisation of the Island’s Electoral System”.
We received 140 formal responses to the consultation: 29 of these responses were received from organisations/Local Authorities/political parties and Tynwald Members and 111 individuals.
The majority of responses received were broadly supportive of the draft Bills.
The next stage of the process will now involve reviewing all responses received in order to further inform the drafting of the Bills.
For views and evidence in relation to our proposal to remove the requirement for auditor confirmations in the insurance authorisation application process in respect of Protected Cell Companies (“PCCs”) and Limited Partnerships (“LPs”). The removal of the requirement for auditor confirmation would bring the approach PCCs and LPs in line with that of conventional insurance companies.
Respondents welcomed and indicated support for our proposals
We drafted the Insurance (Protected Cell Companies and Limited Partnerships) Amendment Regulations 2020, which will be progressed to bring the changes proposed into effect.
The consultation on the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation (Isle of Man) Bill outlined the proposal to modernise the divorce process on the Isle of Man, removing the need to claim unreasonable behaviour or adultery in order to achieve a speedier divorce or dissolution of civil partnership. The Isle of Man legislation was drafted along the same lines as the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill now being progressed at Westminister. It proposed a 26 week divorce process with no reason given on application except confirmation that the marriage/civil partnership had irretrievably broken down.
A total of 192 responses were received, all from individuals:
There was majority support for mandatory mediation, which is not included in the draft Bill; however some concerns were raised about the practicalities of forcing couples to participate in mediation.
Opinion was divided on whether divorce should not be permitted in the first year of marriage as the law currently prescribes, with 50% disagreeing or strongly disagreeing and 40% agreeing/strongly agreeing. There are no plans to change the law on this aspect.
After considering the results of the consultation feedback, the Bill will be progressed as drafted with one additional provision to allow the Family Court to enable a divorce/dissolution to be progressed in less than 26 weeks in exceptional circumstances, subject to a Deemster's approval.
It is intended to bring the Bill before the branches of Tynwald during the early part of 2020.
The consultation outlined the scope and content of the Bank (Recovery and Resolution) Bill 2020. The Bill is based on international standards already adopted by jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, the Eurozone member states and Jersey, but is tailored to the Isle of Man’s needs where appropriate. This ensures that the Island will have the necessary procedures in place both to plan for the possibility of a future bank failure and the powers to intervene appropriately in such a situation. The Bill was developed following a significant period of engagement involving the Treasury, the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, IoM licensed banks and their professional advisers. The consultation was thereafter issued for wider comment and observation.
A total of six responses were received:
The responses received were generally supportive of the objectives of the Bill. A number of responses commented on specific aspects of the Bill, with the majority of Parts of the Bill attracting no specific comments.
Following consideration of the feedback gained during the consultation process, there will be some minor modifications to the draft Bill, to address non-material matters such as typographical errors. Thereafter, it is intended to progress the Bill into the branches of Tynwald early in 2020.
The purpose of the draft Order is to temporarily modify section 14 of the Act (occasional licences) so as to enable an occasional licence to be granted for a period of a maximum of 21 days in total from Wednesday 27 May 2020 to Tuesday 16 June 2020, being the TT qualification and race period and adjoining days.
The Department received 11 unique responses to their consultation, of which 7 were consolidated responses that were representative of either the views of organisations and/or businesses.
Within these responses was a reasonable balance of those in favour of the proposed change, and those opposed, along with some views that indicated that the respondents would be in favour of an alternative extension period between the proposed 21 days, and the currently possible under existing legislation without change to law, 14 days.
The views received from 4 individual residents, the majority of whom indicated that they lived in Douglas in the immediate vicinity of an entertainment venue, whilst not overwhelmingly negative in terms of liquor licensing did express concerns around noise levels from these entertainments and the impact of this on residents for an additional week.
|
Respondent |
General Comments/content |
|
Department of Enterprise |
Positive |
|
Isle of Man Constabulary |
Positive |
|
Licensees Representative Organisation |
Licensees Representative Organisation did not support the 21 day extension however were in support of the additional weekend tied to TT period. |
|
Major Brewery #1 |
Positive |
|
Licensed Business #1 |
Did not support 21 day extension however was in support of additional weekend tied to TT period |
|
Major Brewery #2 |
Were supportive of the additional weekend tied to the TT period |
|
Licensed Business #2 |
Positive |
|
Individual #1 |
Negative primarily with concerns around noise/waste/crime |
|
Individual #2 |
Positive around liquor licensing albeit concerns are raised around noise for residents later in the evening in areas close to entertainment venues |
|
Individual #3 |
Negative primarily with concerns around noise close to entertainment venues, also raises same complaint around noise from fair |
|
Individual #4 |
Positive around liquor licensing albeit concerns are raised around noise for residents later in the evening in areas close to entertainment venues |
On careful consideration of all received views, the Department proposes that 2 days will be added to the standard period of 14 days which may be granted for an Occasional Licence. This 16 day period is proposed from Saturday 30 May 2020 to Sunday 14 June 2020 to include the TT qualification and race period and adjoining weekends. It was viewed that the inclusion of an additional weekend would enhance the entertainment offering for both visitors and residents alike while having the minimum negative impact on local residents.
Future planned action
The Department will also be interested to garner the views of the public and organisations should the proposed trial period of 16 days be granted for TT 2020. Further public communication will be made to facilitate this review in 2020, closer to the TT period, should this Order be approved at the sitting of Tynwald in December 2019.
We asked for views on proposed amendments to the Financial Services Act 2008, Insurance Act 2008, Collective Investment Schemes Act 2008 and the Designated Businesses (Registration & Oversight) Act 2015.
We received eleven responses to the Discussion Paper. There was support for the proposal to amend the regulatory framework – see the response document for further detail.
We are now developing the proposals and preparing draft legislation which will be subject to public consultation in due course.
The Commission sought views on the level of demand for the various spectrum bands available.
In total 11 responses were received: 5 responses from Licensed Operators/businesses and 6 from individuals.
The next stage of the process will now involve reviewing all responses received in order to further inform, guide and enable the Commission to design a process for ensuring that access to the relevant spectrum is awarded to the parties that will make the most efficient use of it in the interest of the Manx consumer and economy on a fair and non-discriminatory basis. The Commission will publish a Response to Consultation in the near future.
We asked you to review the draft Code of Practice and provide your feedback to ensure that the Act will be interpreted and applied correctly.
A total of three responses were received which included (i) support for the Code (ii) grammatical errors within the Code and (iii) comments in relation to the primary legislation.
The Department is grateful to the respondents and to any others who had an input into the drafting of the Code throughout the process. After reviewing the responses, the grammatical errors were amended to the Code of Practice which came into effect on 1st January 2020.
The Department is grateful to the respondent for their comments in respect of the primary legislation which will be considered at a time when the legislation is subject to a future review.
We asked for your comments on the draft of the Public Health ‘Children’s Weight Management Strategy’, which sets out some of our local ambitions and visions that intend to prevent and reduce levels of overweight and obesity on our Island, focussing our efforts on the youngest members of our community.
The Children’s Weight Management Strategy consultation has been developed across a number of themes, including improving the food environment, transforming the accessibility and availability for physical activity in the local environment, and encouraging and enabling healthier lives. We asked for your thoughts on how we make be able to improve these environments to make a step change to prevent and reduce obesity levels across the island.
Your comments we welcomed, and a review of the overall feedback is below. The feedback will help inform our final strategy and implementation plan.
Creating an environment where it is normal and easy for us all to eat well and be physically active can make a significant difference. These nudges in our behaviours start in the places we live, shop, eat, socialise and travel, including in our nurseries and schools. We want to support making the healthy choice the easy choice.
Here’s what you said about the food environment on-island.
Of the 150 responses received, only 2% of people were unable to access healthy food, with an overwhelming 90% of people being able to have access to healthy food, and 7% responding “occasionally”.
Homes and work were considered mostly healthy environments, where as “entertainment” venues such as cinemas/theatre, sports facilities, clubs and cafes and restaurants were considered more “unhealthy” in most cases. School was an even split between those who believed that the access was to healthy or unhealthy food. Interestingly, those who were “Primary school parents” believed on balance that the meals served were healthy, as a split of 59% to 41%. “Secondary school parents” split was the opposite, with 58% responding that the food choices available were “unhealthy” as opposed to 35% who thought they were healthy.
Barriers to healthy eating in most establishments was thought to be due to a lack of healthy options available, with the high cost of the more healthy options being too expensive being an issue for 20% of the respondents. The top suggestions for making food more appealing in these environments were:
Here’s what was said about access to physical activity environments.
87% of people feel it is easy for them to be active in the area in which they live. Those that found it most difficult to be active were those who had pre-school children.
There was a wider spread of ideas to overcome barriers towards physical activity, which include improved footpaths, traffic management, better cycling infrastructure and more gym class options. When asked how can we make it easier for our children and young people to be more physically active on-island 12% said there were already enough opportunities. 14% suggested subsidised facilities and 11% suggested indoor facilities.
We asked, in your experience, what do you think are the main factors that prevent children from achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and are there any key actions you want us to focus on?
The top 5 barriers you told us were:
And the top 5 actions were:
Public Health held a Healthy Weight Summit on the 29th November, and invited key stakeholders together to consider their roles in the wider system to help combat increasing weight of our population. This was led by Dr Nick Cavill, a specialist in whole systems approach working for public health improvement.
We presented the public opinion from the consultation hub to the stakeholders, and asked for any further feedback on the draft strategy from a work perspective from those at the Healthy Weight Summit.
The feedback will be received and collated, and the final strategy document will be available in early 2020. The implementation plan will follow, which will be across government and beyond. This will be made public.
A further update will follow with the final draft and implementation plan with timings, accountability and costs outlined.
We asked for your comments on the draft Equality Act 2017 (Age Exceptions for Pension Schemes) Order 2019.
No responses to this consultation were received via the gov.im Consultation Hub. However, we did receive comments via email from the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the IoM Financial Services Authority (“the FSA”) and the IoM Public Sector Pensions Authority (“the PSPA”).
The CWU is supportive of the Order being made stating “We recognise that there is a need for a facility in law to allow for age exceptions relating to pensions for the purposes of achieving a legitimate aim”.
The response from the FSA was confined to the precise drafting of the Order; no comments were made as to its effects.
The PSPA responded stating that it had no comments to make on the (proposed) Order.
No other comments were received.
The Treasury will now decide whether to make the Equality Act 2017 (Age Exceptions for Pension Schemes) Order 2019.
The Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading (‘the OFT’) is a Statutory Board of the Isle of Man Government. One of the functions of the OFT is to enforce consumer protection legislation.
The proposed Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2019 (‘the CPRs’) represented the most significant change in the Island’s consumer protection landscape in many years.
We asked for input from consumers, businesses and the direct consultees listed below to help us to ensure that the proposed CPRs would put in place a modern, simplified and comprehensive consumer protection framework for dealing with sharp practices and rogue traders who deliberately set out to exploit weaknesses and loopholes in existing legislation.
Whilst it was a public consultation, the consultation document was sent directly to:-
Please see the “Summary of Responses”.
Five responses were received in total, which was perhaps disappointing given the significance of the proposed CPRs. Two respondents wished to remain anonymous and one response was received late. The late response was not included in the “Summary of Responses” but was answered in due course.
None of the respondents answered each question.
Responses were received online via the Consultation Hub and by email.
The responses did not raise any insurmountable issues.
In the apparent absence of any insurmountable issues following the consultation exercise, the OFT was content to lay the CPRs before Tynwald on 15th October 2019. They subsequently came into operation on 30th October 2019.
A Planning Action Plan was laid before Tynwald on 15 May 2018. It included a commitment to make changes to the existing Town and Country Planning Act, 1999. The Planning Act 2019 came into operation on the 20th October 2019. Whilst the Act was awaiting Royal Assent, a public consultation was carried out which sought views in relation to a number of pieces of secondary legislation which would be required to implement the changes made in the Act. The consultation is part of a joint project between the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture and the Cabinet Office to take forward the Reform of the Planning System.
There were 26 responses to the consultation. Responses were received from 5 Local Authorities, Manx Utilities, the Department of Infrastructure, the Alliance for Building Conservation the Isle of Man Antiquarian and Natural History Society, as well as developers and members of the public.
A report has been published which includes a summary of the responses and the issues they raise. The emerging legislation will be informed accordingly.
The Department of Home Affairs consulted with the public via the Consultation Hub between 12 August 2019 and 12 September 2019 on the proposed amendments, by Order, to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 2001.
The purpose of the Order was to minimise the disparity between the timelines for ‘spent’ convictions found in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 2001 and those in the United Kingdom’s Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (an Act of Parliament).
One response was received via email and the respondent did not agree to their information being published however they agreed with the proposed amendments to the Act and also to the planned future amendments with relation to Cautions.
The Department was grateful to the respondent and to any others who had an input into the drafting of the Order prior to consultation.
The Order was approved by Tynwald in October 2019 and became effective on 01 November 2019.
The Department intends to bring forward primary legislation providing both for the rehabilitation of sentences over 30 months, and that cautions may become ‘spent cautions’, and that these two matters will then be aligned with the relevant rehabilitation periods found within the UK Act. These provisions are contained within a Bill scheduled to be introduced into the legislative branches in the first half of 2020.
In February 2018, Tynwald resolved that the Emoluments Committee should establish a review of the emoluments of Tynwald Members. In May 2019 an independent Panel was appointed to undertake the review. Its members are Ian Cochrane (chair), Jennifer Houghton and Sir Miles Walker. The Panel has decided to consult the public.
The total number of responses received was 82. Of these, 22 have published in full and 46 have been published anonymously. They can be found at Annex 7 of the Report of the Independent Panel dated November 2019 which was laid before Tynwald in January 2020 (see link under “We did”).
An analysis of the responses is at Annex 6 of our report and can also be found by clicking on the link to the document below. The document is listed under “Files” and is named "Tynwald emoluments analysis of consultation responses".
Below is a link to the Report of the Independent Panel on Tynwald Members' emoluments which contains the responses to the consultation from those who consented to publication:
Report of the Independent Panel dated November 2019 which was laid before Tynwald in January 2020
The Isle of Man Civil Aviation Administration asked for views on the proposed Civil Aviation (Reporting, Analysis and Follow-up of Occurrences) Order.
We received four responses to the consultation which were generally supportive of the legislation.
After considering the responses, it was decided not to make any fundamental changes to the order. However two of the article had been redrafted during the course of the consultation which had already resolved some of the issues raised. Some other minor changes were made to take account of comments received which we concurred with.
The responses are detailed in the consultation response document.
We would like to thank those that took the time to respond to the consultation.
The Isle of Man Civil Aviation Administration asked for views on the proposed Civil Aviation (Air Traffic Services) Order.
We received 1 response to the consultation who was supportive of the legislation but questioned a couple of the provisions.
After considering the response, we made a some changes to the legislation. These are detailed in the consultation response document.
We would like to thank the respondent for taking the time to respond to the consultation.
The Isle of Man Civil Aviation Administration asked for views on the proposed Civil Aviation (Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air) Order.
Of the 3 responses none disagreed with the proposals and no issues were raised with the drafting of the order.
After considering the responses, it was decided not to make any significant changes to the intent of the order.
The responses are detailed in the consultation response document.
We would like to thank those that took the time to respond to the consultation.