St John's road trial scheme questionnaire (FOI)

Request

I have attempted to complete the questionnaire relating to the St John’s Road one way trial scheme on the government website. 

A

I have concerns that the questionnaire asked for my personal information (email and postcode) at the end of the questionnaire. Please could you tell me the reason for collecting this data? Is it necessary?

B

I would like a copy of the data protection impact assessment and privacy notice for this questionnaire and I would like to have details on the safeguards in place preventing anyone processing the data linking my answers to me. 

Response

A

Optional questions are included at the end of the questionnaire to monitor the diversity of the respondents, for example, mobility, gender, age and so on and their location which is determined by the post code.

Mobility information is requested as part of the diversity questionnaire which is of interest to the Transport team within Infrastructure and Environment.  This will assist the team to identify specific transport needs, particularly those of vulnerable users such as the young, elderly or infirm.

The inclusion of questions relating to mobility issues, will enable the cross-referencing of responses to the main section questions with the respondents' ability to undertake active travel and their propensity to change. 

Therefore, the number of respondents with mobility issues is important to drawing conclusions on the success of the scheme and the potential to achieve the modal change and outcomes desired from the scheme.

The recipient has the option to provide an email address if they would like to receive a confirmation that the questionnaire has been received.

The data provided in the optional section is automatically anonymised and turned into numeric data and any email address provided within the survey will not be issued to the transport team.

It should be noted that the trial has been delayed due to supply issues and Storm Ciaran.

B

A copy of the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) regarding the St John’s Road Engagement Survey is attached.

DPIA - St John Road DR_Redacted.pdf

The DPIA includes draft questions regarding a post-trial survey that is due to be carried out in due course.  The proposed questions have been withheld from release under Article 35 (Formulation and Development of Policies) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as these have not been finalised.

Article 35 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

Personal information has been redacted in accordance with Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

The questionnaire information is collected via Citizen Space, an online survey platform and all data is automatically anonymised and turned into numeric data.

The requested privacy policies are exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is accessible and can be accessed using the following links:

Transport and Highways

Transport and Highways' privacy policy and retention schedule (gov.je)

Citizen Space (delib), the online survey platform

Delib Privacy Information (haveyoursay.gov.je)

Standardised Diversity Monitoring Privacy Notice

Standardised Diversity Monitoring privacy notice (gov.je)

It should be noted that the Government of Jersey do not create separate privacy policies for each activity and the relevant privacy policies are updated when required.

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 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 2005.

(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 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 35 - Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Public Interest Test

The following considerations were taken into account:

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure 

• Disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public, providing confirmation that the necessary discussions have taken place.
• Disclosure to the public fulfils an educative role about the early stages in policy development and illustrates how the department engages with parties for this purpose.  

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information 

• In order to best develop policy and provide advice to Ministers, officials need a safe space in which free and frank discussion can take place – discussion of how documentation is presented and provided is considered as integral to policy development as iterations of documents are demonstrative of the policy development process. 
• The need for this safe space is considered at its greatest during the live stages of a policy. 
• Release of the information at this stage might generate misinformed debate in. This would affect the ability of officials to consider and develop policy away from external pressures, and to advise Ministers appropriately. 
• Premature disclosure of this information may limit the willingness of parties to provide their honest views and feedback. This would hamper and harm the policy–making process not only in relation to this subject area but in respect of future policy development across wider departmental business.

Following assessment, the Government of Jersey has concluded that, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

It should also be noted that once a policy is formulated and published, the public interest in withholding information relating to its formulation is diminished, however, the use of the exemption can be supported if it preserves sufficient freedom during the policy formulation phase to explore options without that process being hampered by some expectation of future publication.