Crown Dependencies - Justice Committee Contents


Memorandum submitted by the Isle of Man Pensioners Association (IOMPA)

RELEVANT TERMS OF REFERENCE

    (i) The role of the Ministry of Justice in managing the UK's relationship with the Crown Dependencies including inter-departmental liaison and co-ordination. (ii) Recommendations to improve the Ministry of Justice's management of the relationship between the UK and the Crown Dependencies.

  1.  This is an organisation, which campaigns for all pensioners who have been resident on the Isle of Man for 10 years to be paid the Isle of Man Pension Supplement as recommended by the Chislett Report (1992).

  2.  At that time the Isle of Man's National Insurance Fund had a significant surplus owing to a large input from the United Kingdom.

  3.  Among other things the intention of the Supplement was to compensate for losing the link between earnings and pensions at that time.

  4.  At present the Pension Supplement, which amounts to an extra 50% of the State Retirement Pension, is only given to those who have paid National Insurance contributions for 10 full tax years into the Isle of Man National Insurance Fund.

  5.  In the course of getting information and pursuing our campaign we have been in contact with the Ministry of Justice over the past eight years.

  6.  The Isle of Man does not have a Freedom of Information Act. Where information has not been forthcoming here we have turned to the UK to obtain it. Thus the UK authorities have dealt with reasonable requests that have been refused by Isle of Man bureaucrats. We consider this to be a vital role for the Ministry of Justice to oversee.

  7.  In dealing with the Ministry our experience has been that we are basically a political football and neither the United Kingdom nor the Isle of Man will accept responsibility for us.

  8.  Our recommendations for action by the Government to improve the Ministry of Justice's management of the relationship between the UK and the Crown Dependencies are:

    (a) Regular visits to the island with opportunities to explain the role of the Ministry of Justice to the general public.

    (b) Provision for British Nationals who are resident on the Isle of Man to meet with members of the Ministry of Justice during these visits.

    (c) Acceptance that for some residents, the Ministry of Justice will be the source of some information that cannot be obtained on the Island because of lack of a Freedom of Information Act on the Isle of Man.

    (d) Our experience through correspondence with the United Kingdom Government via the Ministry of Justice and also the Isle of Man Government has clearly indicated that they are not prepared to acknowledge responsibility for the people represented by IOMPA. We feel that there must be closer contact between the Ministry of Justice, the Isle of Man Government including the relevant departments and the residents affected by their respective decisions.

  IOMPA would like the committee to consider our recommendations in Paragraph 8 for inclusion in its Report to the House.





 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2010
Prepared 30 March 2010