Government of Jersey

Children harmed in a nursery setting (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 27 December 2024.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

Dear Madam/ Sir,

I am writing to request the following under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

A. The number of referrals to the Local Authority Designated Officer for the financial years from 2010 to 2015 and 2019 to 2024 where a person who works with children is alleged to have behaved in a way that has harmed or may have harmed a child in a nursery setting

B. The number of referrals for the financial years from 2010 to 2015 and 2019 to 2024 where a person who works with children is alleged to have possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child in a nursery setting

C. The number of occasions during the financial years from 2010 to 2015 and 2019 to 2024 where the police, children’s social care or other authorities have been notified as a result of a referral to the LADO about care in a nursery setting.

I am requesting these records in full and in digital form.

If you need any further information from me in order to deal with my request, please let me know.

If you are encountering practical difficulties with complying with this request, please contact me as soon as possible (in line with your section 16 duty to advise and assist requesters) so we can discuss the matter and if necessary I can modify the request.

Response

The Local Authority Designated Officer is referred to as the Jersey Designated Officer (JDO) within the Government of Jersey.

The department have determined that to produce a breakdown of referrals to the JDO for the financial years from 2010 to 2015 where a person who works with children is alleged to have behaved in a way that has harmed or may have harmed a child in a nursery setting would require analysis of each individual record. This would take in excess of 12.5 working hours as this information is not held in a format that we can report from. Therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

The recorded data for 2019 to 2024 has been extracted where the area of work is specified as Early Years sector (Birth to age 5) which would contain data for this sector which would include nursery. The Department have determined that to provide the figures fewer than 5 would likely breach the privacy of individuals therefore disclosure control has been applied under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law.

The department have determined that to produce a breakdown of referrals to the JDO for the financial years from 2010 to 2015 where a person who works with children is alleged to have alleged to have possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child in a nursery setting would require analysis of each individual record. This would take in excess of 12.5 working hours as this information is not held in a format that we can report from. Therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

The department have determined that to produce a breakdown of referrals to the JDO for the financial years from 2010 to 2015 where the police, Children’s Social Care or other authorities have been notified as a result of a referral to the LADO about care in a nursery setting would require analysis of each individual record. This would take in excess of 12.5 working hours as this information is not held in a format that we can report from. Therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Please note the data that we have been able to extract is under the category of Early Years sector (Birth to age 5) which would contain data for this sector specific which would include nursery.

States of Jersey Police response

A-C.

The States of Jersey Police does not hold the number of alleged criminal acts in nursery settings in recorded form. To provide a response to your request would require a manual search of a number of data sets to create a new one. Due to changes in the way this data may have been recorded and retained during the relevant period, any new data set is unlikely to be complete. A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to manipulate data to provide a response. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies as this information is not held.

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.