Air travel by States employees (FOI)

​Request

Air Travel and States Employees

A

Please state whether States of Jersey employees are obliged to use a single booking agent appointed by the States for booking all air travel where the travel is paid for by the public?

B

Where a States Employee is a member of a frequent flyers programme, such as the British Airways Executive Club, and the air far is paid for by the States, does the employee retain the sole use and benefit of the Avios points awarded for that flight?

C

Is their any requirement that Avios points earned on travel paid for entirely by the public must be utilised by that employee to subsidise future flights booked where the travel is exclusively for work purposes?

D

Where a States employee is obliged to travel to a conference or other business event which involves being away from the Island for Saturday and Sunday, being days on which the employee is ordinarily not required to work, is the employee entitled to either overtime or time off in lieu by way of compensation for working at weekends?

Response

A, B and C

On 10 June 2016 the States of Jersey published a review of Travel Policy and Recommendations for Improvement.

The report and Appendix 3 of the review address loyalty points.

Review of travel policy and recommendations for improvement

Information has also been provided to the Public Accounts Committee.

D

The position depends on the employee’s level in the organisation and their pay group. Given the question it is highly likely that virtually all travel of this type would be done in the employee’s own time and, at the discretion of their manager, there may be time off in lieu.

Exemptions 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.