Government savings on children attending fee paying schools (FOI)

Request 

Please advise of the savings that the Government of Jersey, and therefore the Jersey taxpayer, makes as a result of children attending fee paying schools, listed comprehensively and separately for those institutions that are subsidised and non-subsidised. 

Essentially, what it would cost the island if children did not attend these schools and entered the mainstream system.

Response 

In order to respond to this request fully, a complex modelling task would need to be undertaken.

The new funding formula recognises the fixed costs of each particular school as well as the variable costs of pupils according to their age and additional needs. Assumptions would need to be made on needs-mix and where children would be placed instead.

Information regarding the current funding formula is available in the following link: 

Jersey funding formula for schools 2022 (gov.je) 

It has been determined that to conduct this analysis would exceed the 12.5 hour timescale prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Furthermore, non-subsidised fee-paying schools are not a scheduled public authority therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. The Government of Jersey does not hold the required information to make this calculation. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of "information held by a public authority"

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the 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. 

(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.