Correspondence relating to the CEO’s housing status (FOI)

​Request

Please provide all correspondence (electronic and / or hard copy) regarding Mr Parker’s housing status prior to 3 October 2017 between Mr Parker, Senator Paul Routier, the Population Office, Senator Ian Gorst, and any other relevant / involved party / parties.

Response

A previous Freedom of Information response is available in relation to correspondence between Mr Parker and former senator Routier, dealing with Mr Parker’s housing status. This response is available through the following link:

Correspondence relating to Charlie Parker's housing status (FOI)

No correspondence has been located between the Population Office and Mr Parker prior to 3 October 2017. Further to previous discussions with the applicant it is noted that the applicant is seeking copies of the “correspondence” referred to in the contract of employment of the Chief Executive Officer. In the interests of transparency, a copy of the official letter provided by the Population Office to Mr Parker is enclosed.

Population Office approval letter

It is not possible to search for correspondence between ‘any other relevant / involved party / parties’ as the terms of reference are too broad and such a search would exceed the time and cost limits of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the FOI Law).

A search of the emails of Senator Gorst and Mr Parker prior to 3 October 2017 regarding Mr Parker’s housing status has been undertaken and relevant emails are attached below. These have been redacted in accordance with the following articles of the FOI Law.

Redacted emails

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.

Information in relation to third party contact details and personal email addresses has been redacted.

In addition information in relation to personal aspects of the employment process have been redacted, in accordance with the decision of the Information Commissioner shown at the following link:

Decision Notice dated 21 November 2018

Article 35 Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

The SPA is withholding the release of certain parts of the information as it relates to the formulation and development of policy by the public authority.

Article 35 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test is required to be undertaken by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA). It is therefore necessary for the scheduled public authority to carefully examine the circumstances of the case. Following assessment the SPA has to decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Although there is a need for transparency, accountability, financial and good decision making by public authorities this information relates to an ongoing situation and sensitive aspects of the ongoing transformation of the Government of Jersey. The SPA – and indeed good government, requires Ministers to be provided with full, frank advice from officials about the possible impact of proposed policy, and for Ministers and officials to be able to discuss and test those proposed policies in a comprehensive way.

The following considerations were taken into account:

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

• disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public, providing confirmation that the necessary discussions have taken place

• disclosure to the public fulfils an educative role about the early stages in policy development and illustrates how the department engages with parties for this purpose

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information

• in order to best develop policy and provide advice to Ministers, officials need a safe space in which free and frank discussion can take place. The need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a policy. Sharing views internally within the Department and across Government is important to ensure that all relevant considerations are taken into account in developing and implementing policy. Disclosure at a time when these views are still being considered would negatively impact the Department’s ability to fully consider the information

• release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate in areas where future options have yet to be finalised. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately.

Taking into account the various factors, the SPA has applied redactions where necessary to maintain this exemption.

It should also be noted that once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished, however, the use of the exemption can be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication.

Articles 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 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 35 Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.