First women to hold various roles (FOI)

Request

Could you please provide any information, including names and dates, on the following:-

A

Who was the first recorded woman to work for the States of Jersey Police as an officer, detective or sergeant?

B

Who was the first woman to serve as a firefighter for the States of Jersey Fire Service?

C

Who was the first woman to gain a senatorial seat in the States Assembly in Jersey?

D

Who was the first recorded female surgeon, doctor or consultant to work in Jersey’s General Hospital?

E

Who was the first registered female advocate or lawyer in Jersey?

Response

A

The first recorded Woman Police Constable and Woman Sergeant was Sue Bond. Further details are available on the States of Jersey Police website through the following link:

50th Anniversary of female officers

B

The first woman firefighter within the States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service was appointed in February 1999.

However, the person’s name is not in the public domain and it therefore exempt from release under Article 25 (Personal information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the FOI Law) as it relates to an individual.

C

The first female Senator was Gwyneth Huelin. Information is available through the following link:

Prominent women

D

It is not possible to provide this information within the time limits prescribed by the FOI Law and Regulations. Historic employment information is still held in paper format – and without specific timeframes to search, the retrieval and location of the required information would far exceed the 12.5 hours allowed under the FOI Law.

E

Information in respect of the first female advocate is available within a compiled list of female lawyers at the following link (further information is available within the footnotes):

Wikipedia - List of first women lawyers and judges in Europe

The Judicial Greffe can confirm that Anita Sarella Regal was sworn in as an Advocate by the Royal Court on 15 August 1968.

Articles applied

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.

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.