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.
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 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.
The Department of Health and Social Care asked for feedback on the publics use and satisfaction with community pharmacy services on the island; in addition, the public were asked to comment on their opinions of introducing new services into community pharmacy and what these might be.
The feedback was sought on the following main areas:
We received 325 responses in total, with 227 being submitted via the Consultation Hub and 98 written responses to the consultation. During the consultation process we also hosted a workshop to bring together members of the public to discuss their thoughts on pharmacy services and we held stands in tow large community pharmacies to answer questions and provide paper copies of the survey. Local community pharmacies and GP surgeries had paper copies available for patients to pick up and send in with pre-printed envelopes.
There were some very positive responses received with 87.4% of respondents stating it was ‘always’ or ‘mostly’ easy to obtain their medicines, and less that 1% of respondents stating it was ‘always difficult’ to obtain their medicines. Again, it was really pleasing to see that 74.5% of patients responded that they ‘always’ or ‘often’ get all the advice and support they need form their pharmacist.
Some of the potential future services received overwhelmingly positive responses, with the Winter Ailment Scheme resulting in 92% of patients who replied stating that it should be available, and NHS Health Checks being supported by 89% of respondents.
We would like to thank those that took the time to answer the consultation online or in writing. The consultation responses are being used to produce a paper to the Department of Health and Social Care to inform senior management and political members about the possible development of pharmacy services in the future.
The Town and Country Planning Act (1999) gives the Cabinet Office responsibility for some planning functions and the Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture responsibility for other functions. Two draft orders were published. The Draft Town and Country Planning (Change of Use) Order made reference to the Draft TCP (Use Classes) (Development) Order. It is important therefore to ensure a co-ordinated approach whereby the two Departments are working together to deliver these measures. The consultation sought views on the two draft orders.
There were 15 responses to the consultation.
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 Town & Country Planning Act (1999) sets out a definition of ‘development’. Things that fall within this definition must have planning approval before they can be carried out. Planning approval can be via individual planning applications or can be a ‘blanket’ approval by secondary legislation (aka Permitted Development). The mechanism for the latter is a Development Order produced by the Cabinet Office and approved by Tynwald. The determination of a planning application must take into account all relevant material considerations and must not take into account anything which is not a material consideration.
Development Orders may be appropriate where proposals are unlikely to be contentious or where relevant the material considerations are unlikely to benefit from case-by-case consideration. Where a proposal is contentious due to non-material issues, there is unlikely to be any benefit of case-by-case consideration by way of a planning application as the process cannot legally take into account the non-material issues which make it controversial.
A Telecommunications Development Order was implemented in 2013 and a draft replacement order was published, alongside explanatory information, for an 8 week consultation, which closed on the 05.08.19.
There were 479 responses to the consultation. 19 respondents indicated they were responding on behalf of an organisation, including 1 MHK, 4 Local Authorities, Manx Utilities, the Digital Agency, the Chamber of Commerce Digital Committee and 5G Aware IOM.
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 Isle of Man Civil Aviation Administration consulted on proposed aviation safety legislation for small unmanned aircraft (SUA). Feedback was sought on a number of areas including:
We received 56 responses to the consultation.
52% of respondents did not agree that permission should be required for flying a SUA at night.
41% of respondents thought that the cut-off weight of 4kgs was too light for those SUAs that required permission to fly.
73% of respondents agreed with the ability to use first-person-view with a competent observer.
68% of respondents agreed with the requirement not to fly a SUA at more than 400 feet above the earth’s surface without permission.
55% of respondents agreed with requirement not to fly a SUA over or within 150 metres of a substantially residential, industrial or recreational area without permission.
In a number of areas, respondents felt that the penalty was too severe.
Please see the report for more detailed analysis.
Although 57% of respondents agreed with the requirement not to fly a SUA more than 500 metres away we decided to withdraw the proposal as we concurred with the points raised by respondents who did not support the requirement.
All the other proposals will be taken forward.
We would like to thank those that took the time to respond to the consultation.
The Department of Health and Social Care asked you for your views of private healthcare provision in the Island.
We asked what would be important to you in choosing whether or not to make use of private healthcare and we asked those who had previously used private healthcare for their opinions of the care they received.
We received 432 responses, which included views from medical and nursing staff along with businesses and the general public. 69% of responses were from people who had previously used private healthcare and these were roughly evenly split between those who had used only Noble’s, those who had used a different provider, and those who had used both Noble’s and another provider.
Around 50% of all respondents said that they currently have private healthcare insurance and 89% said that they may consider private healthcare in the future.
For ranking the importance of items, the consultation employed a 5 point scale (with 1 representing “least important” and 5 representing “very important”). This enabled us to produce a summary figure for each of the items ranked by how important they are to you. For each item a score of “1” would indicate that an item is not at all important relative to other items and a score of “5” would mean that the item is extremely important. Here are the top 3 ranked items, together with their scores, for each of the main topics addressed in the consultation:-
Importance when considering private healthcare options
You said:
Importance when selecting a private consultant
You said:
Importance of facilities in an outpatient clinic
You said:
Importance of inpatient facilities
You said:
Please see the full report for the complete analysis of responses to all questions. There are a number of ‘not answered’ responses to many of the questions in the consultation which many will be from users who have completed the consultation but are not or have not been past users of private healthcare and are therefore unable to comment on specific questions.
We would like to thank those that took the time to answer the consultation online or in writing. The consultation responses will be used to guide the design of a new model for private healthcare services people want to access on Island.
The Department of Health and Social Care continues to explore opportunities to partner with others to implement a new model for our private medical services. Further updates will be given by the Department in December 2019.
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 5 responses from licensed operators were received in response to the consultation: 4 were received using the consultation hub and 1 by email.
The Communications Commission is now considering your responses and conducting a review of the final decisions with the intention of publishing a final response and decision notices by 30th September 2019.
We asked for your views on permitting a specific type of shares in credit unions.
A summary of the comments that were received can be found here.
The new legislation came into effect on 1 August 2019.
The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) consulted on options for possible inclusion in a new climate change mitigation strategy for 2020-2030 and interim targets.
The Isle of Man is faced with an energy trilemma, of balancing energy security, affordability and minimising the impact on the environment.
The United Nations has stated that Climate Change is the defining issue of our time and that urgent action must be taken now.
As part of the consultation we asked for opinions on:
We received 1,029 responses (96% from individuals).
Please see report for a more detailed analysis.
We would like to thank those that took the time to answer the consultation online or in writing.
The Chief Minister has announced that a Climate Change Bill will be introduced in the next legislative year committing this government and future administrations to reach net-zero carbon emissions. Your consultation responses will be considered by the recently created Emergency Consultative Transformation Team to assist with producing a climate change action plan that will go to Tynwald in January 2020.
If the plan is approved by Tynwald, it will be used to assist in the drafting of the Climate Change Bill, and there will be a further consultation on the legislation and we would again welcome your feedback at that time.
The Cabinet Office asked for feedback on a wide range of possible changes to the Island’s domestic and non-domestic rating systems. The feedback was sought on the following main areas:
We received 346 responses to the consultation on the Consultation Hub and a further 18 written responses to the consultation on modernising the Isle of Man rates system. During the consultation process we also hosted a number of workshops to bring together the 22 Local Authorities to discuss their thoughts on modernising the rates system, their concerns and ideas, and during this time we also answered numerous phone calls and emails regarding the consultation.
We would like to thank those that took the time to answer the consultation online or in writing. The consultation responses are being used to finalise plan for rates modernisation which is currently being drafted. The responses to the consultation will be published in due course.
If the plan is approved by Tynwald, draft legislation to support modernisation process will be created, and there will be a further consultation on this legislation and we would again welcome your feedback at that time.
A public consultation was undertaken by the Cabinet Office between the 6 March 2019 and 11 April 2019 to seek comments on proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2008.
The proposed amendments looked to tackle two issues identified as adversely impacting progress towards meeting recommendations made in the MONEYVAL Mutual Evaluation Report of the Isle of Man, in relation to the effectiveness of the islands confiscation regime.
The main aims of the proposed amendments are:
- to lower the level of proof required in cases being heard by courts concerning the restraint of assets, where it is suspected that the alleged offender has benefitted from criminal conduct, whilst investigations are taking place.
- to increase the powers available to civilian financial investigators in order to extend the capabilities of the Asset Recover Unit and of the Economic Crime Unit in the pursuit of the proceeds of crime.
The Cabinet Office received no responses to the consultation in respect of the amendments to the islands confiscation and asset recovery regime.
Whilst no responses were received in respect of the proposed amendments, the Cabinet Office felt it necessary to incorporate a new provision that requires the Court to seek reports from the applicant for a restraint order to update it as to the progress of the investigation; discharging the restraint order if proceedings are not commenced in a reasonable time. This will provide additional protection which ensures that restraint orders are being actively managed.
A revised draft will be laid before Tynwald for approval in the coming months.
A public consultation was undertaken by the Cabinet Office between the 6 March 2019 and 11 April 2019 to seek comments on proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2008 and Anti-Terrorism and Crime Act 2003.
The proposed amendments sought to address a number of technical compliance deficiencies and other issues highlighted in the MONEYVAL Mutual Evaluation Report of the Isle of Man, pertaining to tipping-off.
The MONEYVAL assessors considered that legislation in respect of tipping-off was set too narrowly as tipping-off only occurs in IoM legislation when disclosure that a suspicious activity report (SAR) has been made is likely to prejudice an investigation. This is not commensurate with FATF ‘Recommendation 21 – Tipping-Off and Confidentiality’.
It was therefore proposed that the tipping-off offence in POCA was amended and that a new tipping-off offence was introduced in ATCA compliant with FATF Recommendation 21 but that further allows proper liaison within the regulated and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP) sectors when suspicions are held and to provide for voluntary information sharing, in certain circumstances.
In total, the Cabinet Office received 3 responses to the consultation.
The responses highlighted concerns in respect of the proposed ‘voluntary information sharing` provisions, as it was believed that the amendments would go beyond FATF requirements and could lead to an unnecessary increased risk of tipping-off.
We would like to thank those that took the time to answer the consultation.
Following the consultation period a decision was made not to proceed with the proposed amendments in respect of ‘voluntary information sharing within the regulated sector` and that these provisions would reviewed at a later date; preferably when there was more evidence available to support the effectiveness of this measure in the UK.
The amendments that detail the circumstances in which a tipping-off offence is committed, shall be the only provision to remain from the consultation; this will be laid before Tynwald for approval in the coming months.
The Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture consulted on a proposed new Agricultural Strategy. Feedback was sought on the following areas
We received 186 responses to the consultation; some twenty written responses were added to the consultation hub to facilitate analysis.
Over 90% of respondents supported the vision statement of the Strategy
Over 80% were in favour of the four main objectives of the Strategy
Please see full report for more detailed analysis.
We would like to thank those that took the time to answer the consultation online or in writing.
The consultation responses are being used to finalise an Agricultural Strategy which will be submitted to the appropriate political scrutiny. The intention is to put a proposed new Agricultural Strategy before Tynwald later this year.
In conjunction with the Department of Home Affairs and the Isle of Man Treasury, we asked for views on the proposed changes to the Island’s AML/CFT Framework.
Responses were received from 29 parties, which included comments across all the documents in the consultation. The responses received were broadly supportive of the update to the framework and respondents understood the rationale behind the update.
After considering the responses, we made some changes to the legislation. These are detailed in the consultation response document. The new legislation came into operation in 2019.
In conjunction with the Department of Home Affairs, we asked for views on the proposed Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Specified Non-Profit Organisations) Code.
Responses were received from two parties. The responses received were broadly supportive and respondents understood the rationale behind the proposed updates.
Some changes to the proposals were made in order to be consistent with the rest of the AML/CFT Framework. These are detailed in the consultation response document. The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Specified Non-Profit Organisations) Code 2019 came into operation on 1 June 2019.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) consulted local Isle of Man residents on the medicinal use of cannabis to give them an opportunity to express their views on how medicinal cannabis could be made available on the Isle of Man.
Medicinal cannabis is cannabis consumed with the objective of reducing symptoms of a medical condition. This differs from recreational use where the purpose is to achieve a sensation of euphoria or relaxation, often referred to as a ‘high’.
On 1 November 2018, the scheduling of cannabis based medicinal products under the Misuse of Drugs Legislation changed. As a result of the application of earlier legislation in the Isle of Man, the Statutory Instrument that made this change in England, Wales and Scotland also applied in the Isle of Man. The law in the United Kingdom (UK) changed to allow medicinal cannabis to be used in very limited circumstances and this change affected our law too. In the Isle of Man, we have the opportunity to consider whether we want our approach to medicinal cannabis to remain in line with the UK, or whether we take an alternative approach
We received 3,285 responses from Isle of Man residents and local organisations (99% from individuals).
Only 0.8% of respondents were NOT in favour of the introduction of medicinal cannabis
The majority of respondents that were in favour would like to see it offered as a quality assured product direct to the public for self-medication through accredited dispensaries (option D) or as a framework similar to the Netherlands (option C)
62% were in favour of restricting access to adults over the age of 18
95% would support the cultivation and manufacture of medicinal products in the Isle of Man subject to a suitable regulatory framework.
Please see full report for more detailed analysis.
Analysed responses will now be made available to politicians to consider next steps.