Handling FOI request and applicants' details (FOI)

​​Request

When a person puts in a FOI request, can I ask if that person's name is ever disclosed to the department you are trying to obtain the information from please?

If so, may I ask why that should be?

Response

The Data Protection statement set out below appears on the application form that is used to submit a request, and explains that personal information will be passed to the relevant States of Jersey Department (department).

Data Protection Statement​

The personal information you provide will be processed by the Central Freedom of Information (FOI) Unit (Chief Minister’s Department) of the States of Jersey in accordance with the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005 for all purposes associated with the administration of requests received under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, including monitoring of communications to check for compliance with any relevant policies and legislation.

Your request, including your personal information, will be passed to the Freedom of Information staff authorised to handle your request in the relevant States of Jersey department. In order to respond to your request, your request will then be anonymised and passed to the relevant business area that may hold the information you have asked for.

Information will not be passed to any other third party without your prior consent except where we are required to do so by operation of law. The information you provide will also be used to generate management information that will enable us to continually improve our service to you.

After a request is answered, we may publish anonymised requests and responses on our online disclosure log, as information issued to an applicant is then in the public domain. Information published on our disclosure log may be treated as exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Scheduled Public Authority​

Each department is a Scheduled Public Authority and therefore a separate legal entity, that is responsible for ensuring that personal data is held securely. 

However, in order to process applications and the Freedom of Information Officers in each department will know the name of the applicant in order to establish that the request is not vexatious or repeated.

21 A scheduled public authority need not comply with vexatious requests

(1) A scheduled public authority need not comply with a request for information if it considers the request to be vexatious.

(2) In this article, a request is not vexatious simply because the intention of the applicant is to obtain information –
(a) to embarrass the scheduled public authority or some other public authority or person; or
(b) for a political purpose.

(3) however, a request may be vexatious if –
(a) the applicant has no real interest in the information sought; and
(b) the information is being sought for an illegitimate reason, which may include a desire to cause administrative difficulty or inconvenience.

22 A scheduled public authority need not comply with repeated requests

(1) This article applies if –
(a) an applicant has previously made a request for information to a scheduled public authority that it has complied with; and
(b) the applicant makes a request for information that is identical or
substantially similar. 
(2)

The scheduled public authority may refuse to comply with the request unless a reasonable interval has elapsed between compliance with the previous request and the making of the current request.