Review of Secure Accommodation Orders (FOI)

Request

Children's social care was presented with a report on the findings of a Children's Commissioner review of how, when and why Secure Accommodation Orders were being used in the island in 2023. Please provide that report, redacted / anonymised where appropriate.

Response​

The requested information is exempt under Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 and in keeping with Article 24(2) of the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2019. Please see the link below. 

Commissioner for Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2019 (jerseylaw.je)​

Article applied 

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 2005.

(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 2005; and

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

Internal Review Request

I would like to request an internal review.

Information on how secure accommodation orders are being applied certainly meets the public interest test. Any personal information contained within the report is capable of being redacted, and the request specifies that the report may be ‘redacted or anonymised where appropriate’. 

Redactions are frequently and routinely applied to reports, emails and/or other information requested and released under FOI that may contain personal and/or identifying data.

As such, I kindly request, again, that the report is released with all relevant redactions applied. If there is a reason why it has been decided that usual process will not be followed in this case, please kindly explain why this is.

Internal Review Response

This review has been completed by two senior staff members of the Government of Jersey, independent of the original decision-making process.  The original response has been reviewed and assessed to identify whether exemptions had been correctly applied and whether it was appropriate to withhold the requested information.

The Internal Review Panel was content that Article 25 applies to the report in question and rebut the requester’s point that it is in the public interest to publish as the ‘public interest’ argument is not applicable to absolutely exempt information, in line with Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner’s guidance.

In addition the Panel observed,  that the document itself says confidential and was only “published” to a restricted audience, therefore Article 26 (Information supplied in confidence) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 would also apply to this document.

Accordingly, the original decision to withhold the information is upheld.

Articles applied

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.

Article 26 - Information supplied in confidence

Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.