01 September 2015
The Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 will apply to all parishes from today (Tuesday 1 September 2015).
The Freedom of Information (FOI) law gives the public the right of access to information held by a parish which may be contained in items such as printed documents, letters, and sound or video recordings.
Parish staff have been preparing over the last year for the new legislation. Work has included an audit of information held by the parish and training for both staff and elected officers of all parishes.
All parishes maintain a list of what information they need to keep and how long it must be kept for. Some public information has also been passed to the Jersey Archive for safe-keeping or preservation.
Information for parishioners
To ensure parishioners know about FOI and what it means for them, information has been prepared for use in parish magazines and newsletters, a leaflet on FOI is available from Parish Halls and information will also be available on the parishes’ web site.
Anyone wishing to make an information request to a Parish under the new Law will need to do so in writing – by letter or online, by email – clearly stating what they would like to know and giving their name and contact details. The Parish will then have 20 working days to respond.
The Chairman of the Comité des Connétables, St Clement Connétable, Len Norman, said "The parishes have worked closely together to prepare for the FOI law and this will continue as we handle FOI requests. All requests will be logged by the Parishes FOI team. We will ensure the request is received by the appropriate parish or parishes who may provide the information required. A person can therefore seek information from a specific parish or from several parishes at the same time.
View the Parish FOI website
gov.je