States Vet (2) (FOI)

Request

Please advise the following

A

Who is the current States Vet?  

B

When did the current States Vet take up the role?

C

Is the current States Vet employed as a full time, permanent member of staff or as a consultant?

D

How many days a week does the States Vet work?

E

Does the current States Vet live in Jersey?

F

If the current States Vet does not live in Jersey who pays for travel expenses?

G

Are local veterinarians also used as consultants by The States?

H

What is the financial cost of bringing in the Guernsey States Vet (daily cost)?

I

Does the Assistant to the States Vet have any formal veterinarian training?

J

Who answers the mobile telephone for the States vet when she is unavailable?

K

Are there ever instances where the assistant visits welfare cases alone?

L

From April 2021 to Jan 2022 who was the States Vet?

M

Does the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer have any formal veterinarian training?

N

Who supervises slaughter at the abattoir if the States Vet is out of Island?

O

What are the annual costs paid to independent vets locally?

P

Are staff at PED briefed regarding their communications with the general public i.e are they told to triage calls? 

Q

Was there a States Vet on Island from 20th June 2022 - 24th June 2022, if this information is not available why are records not kept?

Response

A

The current States Vet is Susana Ramos.

B

They commenced their role as States Vet on 1 February 2023.

C

The States Vet is employed as a permanent member of staff.

D

The States Vet works 5 days a week, however, they can be called out at any time of day in relation to urgent matters.

E

The current States Vet is resident in Jersey.

F

Not applicable as the States Vet is resident in Jersey.

G

Some of the on-island animal testing and certification required by the Government of Jersey is carried out by local vets.

H

The Government of Jersey is charged a daily work rate when Guernsey’s State Vet or Deputy Vet are brought in to cover for Jersey’s States Vet at the abattoir as detailed in the previous Freedom of Information response linked below or to offer veterinary assistance when required.

States Vet (FOI)

The Government of Jersey paid a total £2,000 in relation to the provision of veterinary cover from Guernsey in 2022. 

Further information on the daily rate paid is considered to be commercially sensitive and therefore Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to providing the daily rate figure.

Article 33 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

The Government of Jersey does not maintain specific records regarding the Guernsey’s State Vet and Deputy Vet travelling expenses, therefore, Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Our systems are not configured in a way that will allow extraction of the details requested.  A manual search of records would be required in order to obtain this information. It has been estimated that it would take in excess of 12.5 working hours to locate and retrieve the data requested.  This part of the request, therefore, will not be processed further.

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. 

I

A veterinary qualification is not a requirement for this role.  

Continued professional development training is undertaken by the assistant to ensure they are up-to-date with current regulations and procedures.

J

The calls are taken and triaged by the Animal Health and Welfare team and support administration team during regular office hours.

Outside of office hours an officer(s) will be on duty to take calls and provide a standby service to deal with urgent matters.

K

The information requested is exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as it is accessible to on www.gov.je  within a previous Freedom of Information response linked below.

States Vet (FOI)

L

Alistair Breed was the States Vet between April 2021 and January 2022.

M

Yes, the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer has formal veterinarian training.  

It should be noted that under the Veterinary Surgeons (Jersey) Law 1999, that a vet cannot practice in Jersey unless:

• they have a veterinary degree
• they are registered as “practicing” with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) 
• a letter of good standing has been sent from the RCVS to the State’s Greffier.

N

The information requested is exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as it is accessible on www.gov.je  within a previous Freedom of Information response linked below.

States Vet (FOI)

O

The Government of Jersey paid £9,567.27 to local vets in 2022.

P

The veterinary administration team are briefed by the Animal Health and Welfare team regarding communications with general public, which includes triaging calls received.

Q

A States Vet was in post during the requested period but was not present on Island. 

Article applied  

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding Information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

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. 

(2) Despite paragraph (1), a scheduled public authority may still supply the information requested on payment to it of a fee determined by the authority in the manner prescribed by Regulations for the purposes of this Article.

(3) Regulations may provide that, in such circumstances as the Regulations prescribe, if two or more requests for information are made to a scheduled public authority –

(a) by one person; or

(b) by different persons who appear to the scheduled public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.

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 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest test

It is in the public interest to be made aware of any payments made by the Government of Jersey in relation to veterinary work carried out by Guernsey’s State Vet or Deputy Vet.

However, the release of the daily rates could potentially disadvantage the Government of Jersey and the States of Guernsey’s ability to retain commercial advantage in any future negotiations regarding veterinary cover with other jurisdictions.  

Therefore, we consider that the likely prejudice to the Government of Jersey and States of Guernsey, should this information be released, outweighs the argument that the release is in the public interest.