Cost of Royal visits 2024 and 2012 (FOI)

​​​Request

A

Please provide breakdown of the total cost of the Royal Visit.

B

What is the cost the economy and taxpayer to have a Bank Holiday?

C

Please provide a breakdown of the total cost of the previous Royal Visit in 2012 as a point of comparison.

D

Is the information on the number of visitors to Jersey in the week of the visit available, and the week before as a point of comparison?

Response

A

The Minister for Treasury and Resources intends to authorise, by a public Ministerial Decision, the transfer of funds to the Bailiff’s Chambers and the States of Jersey Police Force to meet the costs of the Royal Visit in the next 12 weeks, as such, Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

The Bailiff’s Chambers led the organisation of royal visit and is not a scheduled public authority under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. They therefore have no statutory duty to respond to requests for information under the law. Nevertheless, in the interests of transparency, the Bailiff’s Chambers already has plans to produce an analysis of costs which is intended to be available in September.

B

The Draft Public Holidays and Bank Holidays proposition approved by the States Assembly outlines the implications for the economy and taxpayer. Please see the link below. 

Draft Public Holidays and Bank Holidays (Royal Visit) (Jersey) Amendment Act 202- (gov.je)

C

In line with the Government of Jersey agreed retention periods, financial data is only retained for a period of ten years, this information is therefore not held, and Article 3 of the Freedom of information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

D

This information is not held by the Government of Jersey. Some data may be held by Visit Jersey or the Ports of Jersey, however it should be noted that neither are Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) and as they are not required to respond under the Freedom of Information legislation. 

The relevant contact details are below: 

Ports of Jersey:

ask@ports.je

or by post to: Ports of Jersey, St Peter, Jersey, JE1 1BY 

Visit Jersey:

​Visit Jersey: UK Breaks & Holidays | Jersey, Channel Islands​

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 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 a report containing this information on www.gov.je within 12 weeks of the receipt of this request, once collation and verification of the data has been completed. 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 the 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.​