Repayments and credit card usage of Senator Ozouf (FOI)

​Request

With reference to the previous Freedom of Information response below:

Ministerial purchase card (FOI)

A

Can you please confirm that the spreadsheet provided with the response contains every transaction on the Individuals card and is a complete and accurate record of all transaction history without any omissions. If not why not.

B

Please confirm that the suppliers narrative on the spreadsheet is a precise replication of the wording provided on the credit card statement. If not why not.

C

Senator Ozouf has publicly stated he has made repayments for personal expenditure on the States Credit Card. Can you provide dates and precise amounts repaid by the Senator. Can you also confirm that the repayments made reconcile precisely to the personal use items by the card holder. Has any payment been made or received from the Senator after 13 May when he was notified of this Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

D

Please provide the name of any individual other than Senator Ozouf who has travelled on any airline ticket purchased by the user of this card as shown in part one of the spreadsheet of the released information to date. If a name on any airline ticket or receipt appears on more than one occasion please confirm how many times tickets were purchased for this individual on the card.

E

It is apparent from the information provided that receipts are missing against certain items of expenditure. Please confirm if all other receipts were submitted in a timely and methodical monthly manner prior to the FOI request.

F

Has the Senator provided any explanation for failing to provide proper receipts.

G

Were receipts supplied by the Senator after the FOI request. If so has a concise record be kept of the receipts provided and the number of incomplete records this appertained to.

Response

A

The Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the FOI Law) only obliges a scheduled public authority to provide recorded information. Therefore we are not obliged to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions unless that information is in recorded form, which in this case it is not. Certain information has already been provided on this subject and can be accessed at:

Ministerial purchase card (FOI)

However, we can confirm in this case that the spreadsheet is an accurate and complete record of transaction history and provides additional descriptive information of the transactions.

Where information is already in the public domain and is reasonably accessible to the public, a scheduled public authority is exempt from having to provide the information. We therefore apply Article 23 of the FOI Law to the information requested which is already reasonably accessible.

B

Please see the response to A above.

C

The response to this question is, at this time, qualified exempt under Article 36(1) of the FOI Law due to an ongoing review. Following review, subject to Regulation 1(a) of the Costs Regulations with a specified cost limit of £500 (12.5hrs), we will attempt to provide this information before 30 September 2017 and it will be presented in a revised update to the following FOI request:

Ministerial purchase card (FOI)

As we are applying a qualified exemption it is necessary for us to consider whether the public interest is better served by withholding the information requested and it is not outweighed by the public interest in disclosure. On balance, it is our view the public interest is better served by ensuring the information provided is accurate and complete, which will only be the case once the review is concluded.

D

Personal information is absolutely exempt under Article 25 of the FOI Law. It is considered that to disclose this information would be in breach of one of the data protection principles under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005. In addition where information is already in the public domain and is reasonably accessible to the public, a scheduled public authority is exempt from having to provide the information. We therefore apply Article 23 of the FOI Law to the information requested which is already reasonably accessible at:

Ministerial purchase card (FOI)

E, F, G

Our systems do not record the information at the level of detail requested and the FOI Law only obliges a scheduled public authority to provide recorded information. If the information requested is not in recorded form, then it is not held for the purposes of Article 3 of the FOI Law and as such we cannot provide the confirmation you request.

For further information about the meaning of the term ‘information held’ and for guidance on how to request information please see the ‘Guidance for Individuals' section of the Office of the Information Commissioner’s website

Exemptions applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

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.

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a) of the date when the information will be published;

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c) by whom it will be published.

(3) In this Article, “published” means published –

(a) by a public authority; or

(b) by any other person.