Flight costs incurred by the Chief Officer since his employment (FOI)

​Request 696318629

1) provide a breakdown of flight costs incurred by the Economy Chief Officer for each year since his employment. Please break these down into 3 categories a) First Class/Business Class b) Premium Economy/Economy and c) unknown/not recorded

2) using the data in part 1) above, break down the categories into 2 buckets, a) those booked by the normal procedures, ie the booking team and b) those booked using the emergency code and booked by the Chief Officer himself?

3) who paid for the Chief Officer’s recent trip to the UK for the Bergerac Premiere in London and what was the total cost, including flights, hotel, other travel and subsistence?

4) what business purpose was there for the Chief Officer to attend the Bergerac London Premiere?

Response

1. The Chief Officer for the Department for the Economy has been employed in his current role since September 2018 (formally called ‘Director General’). He first commenced employment with the States Employment Board in April 2017. 

Financial ledgers do not breakdown travel costs by individual employees, nor class of travel. 

A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to create new datasets nor manipulate existing datasets to respond to Freedom of Information requests therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

The figures in the attached table are held including all fights paid for by the Government of Jersey for the Economy Chief Officer to travel between 11th May 2023 and 23rd March 2025.

Travel table.pdf​

2. There is a Government of Jersey Travel Policy for employees and compliance with the financial directives are mandatory. Please see 

Travel section of the Public Finances Manual

There is no Government of Jersey central “booking team” who coordinate and arrange travel for civil servants. 

All travel by Accountable Officers themselves, including the Chief Officer for the Department for the Economy, must be approved by another Accountable Officer or Chief Officer, or the Treasurer. The Chief Officer for the Department for the Economy has not approved their own travel or used an “emergency code” to travel. 

​3. The costs incurred by the Chief Officer in attending the Bergerac Premiere in London on 19th-20th February 2025 were covered by the Department for the Economy. 

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4. This request is asking for justification rather than for information that is held by the Government of Jersey and therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information Jersey (Law) 2011 applies. 

Article 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.