Arms length organisations (FOI)

Request

I would like to request the following:

Recently on the Gov.je website, they announced the fiscal stimulus application form deadline. It says it is open to a number of organisations including “arms-length” of the Government of Jersey (GOJ)  Will you please define:

A

How many organisations are classed as arms length?

B

The names of these organisations?

C

What is the definition of arms length?

D

i) How much money have each of the arm’s length organisations received from the Fiscal Stimulus scheme?

ii) how much did each receive in the previous 24 months?

Response

A

This information is not held. Please refer to Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 below.

B

This information is not held. Please refer to Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 below. The definition (see response to C below) is likely to include the following bodies. A list is expected to be published in the Public Finances Manual in due course.

• Digital Jersey

• Bureau des Îles Anglo-Normandes

• Visit Jersey Limited

• Jersey Sport

• Jersey Arts Trust

• Jersey Arts Centre Association

• Jersey Opera House

• Jersey Heritage Trust

• Jersey Product Promotion Limited

• Jersey Legal Information Board

• Channel Islands Brussels Office

• Government of Jersey London Office

• Jersey Employment Trust

• Jersey Finance Limited

• Jersey Business Limited

• Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service

• Jersey Battle of Flowers

• Super League Triathlon

• Association of Jersey Charities

• Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society

• Jersey Rugby Football Club

• Jersey Consumer Council

• Jersey Citizens Advice Bureau

C

The Public Finances Manual defines an Arm’s Length Organisation as “an organisation which fulfils a role or function the States of Jersey would otherwise perform.”

Public Finances Manual 

The definition does not extend to organisations which receive funding from the Government or States of Jersey of less than £75,000 per year.

The definition also excludes the following Specified Organisations listed in schedule 2 of the Public Finances Law:

• Andium Homes Limited and its subsidiaries (if any)

• Jersey Overseas Aid Commission

• Jersey Post International Limited and its subsidiaries (if any)

• JT Group Limited and its subsidiary companies (if any)

• Ports of Jersey Ltd.

• States of Jersey Development Company Limited and its subsidiary companies (if any)

D

i) The appraisal process for Fiscal Stimulus is still underway and no monies have been released from the Fiscal Stimulus Fund as at February 2021.

ii) Information is publically available on www.gov.je therefore Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Grants of £75,000 or more are published in the States of Jersey’s Annual Report and Accounts. The most recent report (for 2019) is published as R.33/2020

Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Information on grants in 2020 will be published, within the next 12 weeks, in the States of Jersey’s Annual Report and Accounts for that year therefore Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

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 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 the information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information

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.