Government of Jersey purchase cards (FOI)

​​​​​​​​​​​Request

​A

Please name all politicians who are in possession of a Government of Jersey credit card?

B

Please name all civil servants who are in possession of a Government of Jersey credit card?

C

Please name anyone who may not be described as a civil servant, but may still be employed by the Government of Jersey who has a Government of Jersey credit card such as a consultant or similar.

D

Do these officials have a credit limit on these cards?

E

What are these cards used for? 

F

Are civil servants permitted to entertain others using these cards?

G

Who monitors what these cards have been used to purchase and who signs this off?

H

Are receipts required for bookkeeping purposes?

I

If cards are used for travel, hotels or entertaining, is there a policy on the class of services which may be used?

J

If cards are used for personal purposes, how soon after are the card holders billed and how long are they given to reimburse the Government of Jersey?

K

Please provide any details (by person) of any individual who has spent more than £1,000 on travel, entertaining or hotels in any one month? Breakdown of what was purchased, where and when during the last two years to date.

L

If any of the above are for entertaining, please advise who was being entertained?

Response

A

Deputy Kristina Moore, Deputy Kirsten Morel and Deputy Ian Gorst 

B and C

This information cannot be released as this would breach the privacy of the individuals concerned; therefore, disclosure control has been applied under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law.

D

All cards have individual credit limits, the amount requested and agreed is part of the application process and set when the card is issued. Please see Attachment 1: the Government of Jersey Purchase Card Procedures. 

Attachment 1 Purchase Card procedures for Public Finances Manual.pdf​

E

Please see Attachment 1 above for the Government of Jersey Purchase Card Procedures. 

F

Please see details listed in the Public Finances Manual regarding Gifts and Hospitality which can be accessed via the link below: 

Public Finances Manual (gov.je)​

G

Please see the purchase card procedure attached; however due to the fact that Connect Finance became live in January 2023, the current procedure requires updating to reflect new processes for monitoring and approving and will be amended in due course. 

H

Yes, please see both purchase card procedure and travel policy for further information. 

I 

Please see Attachment 2 – the Business Travel Policy, which provides details as to the allowable booking of travel services. 

Attachment 2 Business Travel Policy 2020.pdf​

J

Cardholders are not permitted to use cards for personal use. 

K and L

Data for the costs of travel over £500 in 2022 has been published on www.gov.je and can be accessed via the link below. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law has been applied. 

Cost of travel over £500 (opendata.gov.je)​

Details for 2023 will be published on www.gov.je in due course. Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied to this information.  

Some of the requested information will be withheld to protect the privacy of individuals. Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law has been applied to this information.

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 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the

information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground

must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a) of the date when the information will be published;

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c) by whom it will be published.

(3) In this Article, “published” means published –

(a) by a public authority; or

(b) by any other person.

Public Interest Test

Article 36 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test has to be undertaken to examine the circumstances of the case and decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.  

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure  

• disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public.

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information  

• it is intended to publish the report within 12 weeks of the receipt of this request on www.gov.je. In it is reasonable for government to publish reports in an orderly manner, following completion of appropriate internal processes, and publishing in advance, and in such close proximity to expected publication date, would potentially undermine the orderly publication and conduct of government work (when the public benefit of earlier publication under the Law would derive limited benefit). ​