Appearances of States Member in the Petty Debts Court (FOI)

Request

A

I would like to know how many times, and for what reasons, the Minister [Name Redacted], has appeared in the Jersey Petty Debts Court since their appointment in the Summer of 2022?

B

I would also like to know how many times Deputy [Name Redacted] can continue to appear in the Jersey Petty Debts Court before their role specifically as the Minister [Redacted] is put into question?

Response

A

Any information held in response to this request is absolutely exempt from disclosure in response to a Freedom of Information request because it is personal information which is absolutely exempt under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, and we therefore decline to provide anything in response to this request. The details of any appearances at the Petty Debts Court would be the personal data of the individual States Member. There was no requirement for these details to be disclosed under the Elections (Jersey) Law 2002 and we do not have the consent of the States Member for disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law.

The table and results of Petty Debts Court hearings are published on www.gov.je and once they are removed from that page may be inspected in person at the Magistrate’s Court by arrangement with the Magistrate’s Court Greffe.

Court lists (gov.je)

B

The Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 provides a right of access to records held by scheduled public authorities. No records are held in response to question this question. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3)      In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.