Provision of external counselling to staff (FOI)

​Request

Regarding the external provision sourced by the Government of Jersey dedicated to psychological support (counselling, psychotherapy and similar) to support staff health and wellbeing, please advise on the following:-

• The total amount of external spend (ideally broken down by month) since the beginning of 2022 on psychological support services (psychology, counselling and psychotherapy) for Government staff (including States of Jersey Police staff)?
• The number of therapy sessions (ideally broken down by month) since the beginning of 2022 delivered by those psychological support services?
• The number of staff referred (ideally broken down by month) since the beginning of 2022 to those psychological support services?

Response

Health and Community Services (HCS) response

Details of the HCS spend on external psychological support services from January 2022, and the number of therapy sessions attended, per month (where applicable) are attached.

HCS data.pdf

​​​Eight staff have been referred to external psychological support services since January 2022. Due to small numbers, disclosure control has been applied and a breakdown of the number of staff referred or attending sessions per month is not provided, as doing so could breach the personal data of individuals. Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

States of Jersey Police (SoJP) response

Identifying the data requested would require manual interrogation of ledgers, which it is estimated would exceed the timescales 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, no requirement existed historically for distinction to be made in the records between referrals for physical or mental health support, which would complicate analysis.

Records show the SoJP spend on external psychological support services through 2022 was £13,610, and that 2023 expenditure is £27,876 thus far.

People and Corporate Services (P&CS) response

Details of the P&CS monthly spend on external psychological support services for Government of Jersey employees from January 2022 to October 2023 is attached.​

People and Corporate Services spend data.pdf​

Figures for monthly expenditure include a fixed payment for the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which is available to all Government of Jersey staff (increase applied December 2022). 

Details of the number of staff receiving psychological support through this service and the number of sessions attended is held by the provider and is not shared with the Government of Jersey. As such, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

The Government of Jersey may facilitate a referral to external psychological support for initial assessment. Staff can also self-refer. The assessor may or may not refer / signpost the individual for counselling. The Government of Jersey is not informed of the outcome of these assessments on a case-by-case basis. 

The attached table details the data held in respect of external psychological support sessions attended, excluding the EAP provision.

​People and Corporate Services session data.pdf

New Major Incident psychological pathways are in their infancy. The cost and number of sessions for these pathways are not yet known.

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. 

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 2018.

(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 2018; and

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