Health and social care bosses have refused to give details of payments made and tenders awarded to a cleaning company linked to Minister Kate Beecroft.

They refused to provide financial details and terms of the contract with Manx Home Care, maintaining these were commercially sensitive and ’disclosure would be likely to prejudice the economic interest of the island’.

The request for the information was made under the Freedom of Information Act by former Braddan Commissioners’ clerk Charles ’Buster’ Lewin.

Mr Lewin said: ’How can a cleaning company tender be a threat to the economy of the island?’

Government audited accounts for the year ended March last year, the so-called ’Dark Blue Book’ show Mrs Beecroft’s Manx Home Care company was paid £116,474 by the government in 2014-15.

The Health Minister has declared her interest as director of Manx Cleaners trading as Manx Home Care.

In its FoI response, the DHSC provided a copy of the service specification for the cleaning contract.

In a separate request, Mr Lewin asked for a copy of the letter Mrs Beecroft asked her political members to sign which amounted to a vote of no confidence in her chief executive Malcolm Couch.

Rob Callister refused to sign the letter and resigned as member of the department.

An inquiry was launched into how details of the Minister’s attempt to oust the chief executive were leaked to the press.

The DHSC refused the FoI request to provide a copy of the letter, arguing to do so would be ’contrary to the public interest’.

It said disclosure ’would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public business’ and would breach data protection.