Reform party financial statements (FOI)

Request

Reform Jersey was legally registered as a political party at the Royal Court on 4 July 2014. The Political Parties Law says: "The party must keep accounts. The party must have an accounting period that does not exceed 12 months."

Article 6(3) says: "The Greffier shall keep, for each registered political party, a copy of its constitution submitted under Article 4 or 8, and a copy of its statements of accounts submitted under Article 4 or 9."

Article 9 says: "A statement of accounts in respect of an accounting period of a registered political party must be delivered to the Greffier within the period of 3 months following the end of the accounting period."

Inspection of register of political parties

(1) A person may inspect the register at the Judicial Greffe during its normal working hours.

(2) A person may, on payment of the fee, obtain from the Greffier a copy of any document kept by the Greffier under Article 6(3).

Have Reform submitted accounts for the periods which fall within 2015 to 2018? How many sets of accounts have been received?

What is the amount of the fee mentioned in the above law for obtaining a copy of the accounts under Article 6(3)?

Response

The information requested is absolutely exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as it is accessible to the applicant by other means.

As stated in the request the register containing the accounts of Reform Jersey may be inspected at the Judicial Greffe during its normal working hours. Article 1(2) of the Political Parties (Registration) (Jersey) Law 2008 states that the fee applicable is provided in the Stamp Duties and Fees (Jersey) Law 1998:

“(2)    In this Law, a reference to a fee payable for any application or other matter is a reference to the stamp duty required to be paid for it under the Stamp Duties and Fees (Jersey) Law 1998”

The Political Parties (Registration) (Jersey) Law 2008

The Stamp Duties and Fees (Jersey) Law 1998

In this instance, despite the absolute exemption, we provide the following information for the convenience of the applicant:

Reform Jersey have submitted four sets of accounts for periods ending in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The fee for obtaining a copy of the accounts under Article 6(3) is £1 per page.

Article 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.