Annual accounts of political parties (FOI)

Request

Please supply details of annual Accounts submitted by all Jersey Political Parties over the past three years.

Response

We decline to supply the requested information under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the FOI Law) as it is absolutely exempt information under Articles 23 and 29 of the FOI Law; this is because the Political Parties (Registration) (Jersey) Law 2008 dictates how this information must be disclosed.

Article 23 of the FOI law applies because this information is already reasonably available to the applicant as described below and Article 29(a) applies because the effect of Article 11 of the Political Parties (Registration) (Jersey) Law 2008 is to prohibit disclosure of this information except as required by that Article 11.

You may access this information as provided by Article 11 of the Political Parties (Registration) (Jersey) Law 2008 which states:

11 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).

The annual Accounts are one of the document types kept by the Greffier under Article 6(3). The contact details and opening hours for the Judicial Greffe may be found at the following link:

About the Judicial Greffe

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 29 Other prohibitions or restrictions

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it –

(a) is prohibited by or under an enactment;

(b) is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or

(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court.