Jump to content

The Information Commissioner resigns


Recommended Posts

Close to retirement , nice pension , he’ll be fine. Nothing wrong with that. In the meantime 9 months on still no IOM state pension for me. Applied well in advance. Still working from home apparently ( not me but the gov pension chaps ) so I’ll just have to wait until they give a toss. In the meantime I’ve taken on a part time job ( on minimum wage ) until our hobnob eating civil servants decide to do a days work and pay my pension. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two things stand out for me on this. Firstly, if Tynwald and the Budget voted for the increased funding/headcount (as Roger M has posted above), then why is that democratic will being over-ridden and with what authority?

Secondly, even if it were being denied on basis of financial grounds, it's strange how headcount increase in other Depts continues to surge ahead, apparently with no such concerns from Treasury.

Unfortunately, I think we're going to see more of this reduction in transparency as the purse strings tighten. It's every man for himself in Govt and the less exposure of it, the better as far as some are concerned. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Anyone said:

Close to retirement , nice pension , he’ll be fine. Nothing wrong with that. In the meantime 9 months on still no IOM state pension for me. Applied well in advance. Still working from home apparently ( not me but the gov pension chaps ) so I’ll just have to wait until they give a toss. In the meantime I’ve taken on a part time job ( on minimum wage ) until our hobnob eating civil servants decide to do a days work and pay my pension. 

Everyone I know got on due date so assume there’s something up with your contributions ? have you telephoned the pension office, they’re very helpful 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Two things stand out for me on this. Firstly, if Tynwald and the Budget voted for the increased funding/headcount (as Roger M has posted above), then why is that democratic will being over-ridden and with what authority?

Secondly, even if it were being denied on basis of financial grounds, it's strange how headcount increase in other Depts continues to surge ahead, apparently with no such concerns from Treasury.

Unfortunately, I think we're going to see more of this reduction in transparency as the purse strings tighten. It's every man for himself in Govt and the less exposure of it, the better as far as some are concerned. 

He's probably unfortunate in that he seems an effective and persuading Commissioner and in the past that would reward you with a growing empire (Longworth, Reynolds etc)

 

Not a bad thing to see the purse strings putting a check on growing units (particularly compliance/admin)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Mercenary said:

He's probably unfortunate in that he seems an effective and persuading Commissioner and in the past that would reward you with a growing empire (Longworth, Reynolds etc)

No, I think I'd disagree with that, Longworth and Reynolds (etc) were just wrapped up in their own worlds of huge public expense and incompetence and weren't making a pain in the arse of themselves, and causing embarrassment, to their Govt colleagues. In short, L and R fitted beautifully into the system and weren't a threat to it. McDonald clearly has aspirations of serving the public as a priority and that will never do.

I think it's quite difficult to put into words the degree of cynicism/self service that the IoM CS actually operates with (and I do speak from some experience), and the pure arrogance. No threat or opposition will be brooked and taxpayers don't need to know what goes on, they are just there to be told and stump up when necessary.

We continually see it in the language of patronising press releases and statements from the Departmental mouthpieces too, the latest for instance being that taxpayers should be stumping up for travel insurance because they have no right to expect that the taxpayer-funded airport should be able to despatch flights in a timely and efficient manner. Who the hell do these serfs think they are?

There's been a long list of CEOs and other seniors with this attitude, Hannay, Robinson from within the DOI alone and the culture doesn't stop there by any means.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/1/2023 at 11:01 AM, Banker said:

Everyone I know got on due date so assume there’s something up with your contributions ? have you telephoned the pension office, they’re very helpful 

Yes and therein lies the problem. Voluntary contributions class 4 and they’ve lost them , 20 years worth. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/30/2023 at 10:28 PM, NoTailT said:

He probably knows more about cookies than you do too!

On performance so far that seems to be completely correct. It’s concerning that almost every other department has been allowed to empire build. Except this troublesome department and it’s troublesome head who have helped people bring other government departments to account. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/30/2023 at 11:05 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

He's a good man...can understand why he's taking this position. 

Manx Gas sent everyone’s gas bill to one person by mistake- a massive GDPR breach- and tumbleweed from MacDonald. I guess holding business to account isn’t as sexy as being a gigantic pain in the arse to everyone in government.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Ringy Rose said:

Manx Gas sent everyone’s gas bill to one person by mistake- a massive GDPR breach- and tumbleweed from MacDonald. I guess holding business to account isn’t as sexy as being a gigantic pain in the arse to everyone in government.

Who was the lucky person who got 10,000 invoices? 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, offshoremanxman said:

Who was the lucky person who got 10,000 invoices? 

Damn, I wish that was me. That’d be enough paper to burn and keep warm for the whole winter. It’d be a good product for slow burn, paper to quick start, the bullshite printed on it would ensure longevity of the fire.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Satan666 said:

Damn, I wish that was me. That’d be enough paper to burn and keep warm for the whole winter. It’d be a good product for slow burn, paper to quick start, the bullshite printed on it would ensure longevity of the fire.

Alas it turns out that the misdirection was both more limited than 'everyone' and also electronic.  Good luck with burning other people's emails.

The breech was only in April and reported to the Information Commissioner then, but these cases always take so long to come to a conclusion because the company/government department can always string things out because the legislation lets them.  For example the FoI request regarding Crogga was originally made last August and hasn't been settled yet.  And of course trying to sort out these kind of cases is why the IC wanted extra staff, which the Treasury is stopping him from getting.

(The fact that IEG were still making these sort of messes nearly a year after their 'new' system started illustrates just how useless the company is at its job).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Anyone said:

Yes and therein lies the problem. Voluntary contributions class 4 and they’ve lost them , 20 years worth. 

Class 4 contributions don't count towards a pension so lost or not, it doesn't matter. https://www.gov.im/categories/tax-vat-and-your-money/income-tax-and-national-insurance/national-insurance-contributions/paying-national-insurance/

image.png.3e5ee10dc6f26d2d839bb3fe6b6df052.png

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, piebaps said:

What are they for then? I've paid loads of class 4 over the years, certainly much more than class 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...