Freedom of Information requests received and published (FOI)

Request

Please provide for the period ending 31 August 2017

A

Total number of FOI requests received.

B

Total number of FOI requests completed.

C

Total number of FOI requests published on the FOI website.

Response

A

The information requested is already accessible and is therefore technically exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law. The monthly published statistics complied by the Central Freedom of Information Unit include the number of valid requests received and can be accessed at:

Freedom of Information data and statistics

B

The table below shows the number of completed requests as at 31 August 2017.

* The authority can request clarification from a requester in order to be able to answer a request. If clarification is not received the request is closed.

C

The States of Jersey publish the majority of responses. However there is no legal obligation on the States of Jersey to publish a log of responses provided to applicants.

When responses are suitable for publication the authority aims to publish within 48 hours of the response being sent to the requester.

In the few cases where responses are not published they have been evaluated individually for publication weighing the public interest against other criteria which include (but are not limited to):

• the request is likely to identify the requester

• is of limited general public interest

• any necessary redaction needed would further reduce the value of the request to the public

• Departmental security

• the request is a repeat request and is identical or significantly similar to a request already received, answered or published on the disclosure log

Below is a table to show the number of requests published on the disclosure log.

Where requests have been refused (or in certain cases also invalid responses) the authority may still decide to publish the request to provide information to requesters on what is available and which authorities fall under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

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.