Communications Unit staffing (FOI)

Request

A

Please provide the number of staff currently employed in a communications role within the Government of Jersey, including any which are dedicated to a particular area like Health and Community Services, the Cabinet Office and any others?

B

Please provide the cost of these staff, not only in terms of pay but taking into account all benefits in kind including pensions, subsidised accommodation, private health and other? Please also provide a breakdown of additional pay paid out to individuals (in total) by way of overtime pay and state the rates of pay.

C

Please provide the number of working days that this total would include, for example if one person is employed for a year, the number of working days should include public holidays and statutory holidays in the individual's contract.

D

Please provide the total number of working days actually worked (deducting all the days that would NOT be paid for outsourcing this work to a private company).  For Government of Jersey staff all costs are paid, whereas for outsourcing, the employer pays all costs and Government of Jersey just pays for the time that person was used for.

E

Please provide the numbers of paid sick days paid to these staff during the last year.

F

Please provide the total cost paid out to external suppliers for printing, graphic design, marketing material and any support services during the last year. Please also provide this total for the last year prior to setting up this unit and state which year this refers to.

G

As it is stated that there is ongoing reviews concerning the value of this department, please provide the latest cost comparison figures and state when the last review was undertaken.

H

Please state who exactly undertook the last review.

I

Please provide a breakdown of how these staff are made up for example marketing staff, graphic designers, photographers orvideographers and so forth.

J

Please advise if there are any further positions currently being reviewed which may be advertised or due to be advertised.   if this is case, please provide the number of potential positions and their job titles.

Response

A

Information is accessible on www.gov.je in response to a recent Freedom of Information request. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. Please see the following link:

Communications Directorate staffing (FOI)

B

The Communications Directorate sits within the Office of the Chief Executive. The budget allocation for this department is listed annually in the States of Jersey Annual Report and Accounts. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. Please see the following link:

States of Jersey Group 2022 Annual Report and Accounts.pdf (gov.je)

Details of the overall staffing (and other related costs) spend for the Communications Directorate up to 2022 is available in the link in response to (A) above.

Please note that there are no subsidised accommodation, private health or overtime payments made.

C

Please see Table 1 attached for holiday allowance for Government of Jersey civil servants.

Table 1.pdf

D and E

This information is not held in recorded form. To provide a response to this question would require extraction and manipulation of data to produce new information.

A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to manipulate and create new data sets. It has been estimated that the cost of extracting the data would exceed the cost limit provisions set out in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014.

Article 16(1) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

F

The data for this response has been extracted from both the Supply Jersey (2017 – 2022) and Ariba systems (2023), consolidating information related to expenditures for “Advertising and Publicity” and “Printing and Binding”. However, it is essential to acknowledge that complete alignment with the Marketing and Campaigns budget may not be guaranteed, as some invoices could have been allocated to different budgets. Therefore, while this data provides valuable insights, it is essential to exercise caution and further scrutinise allocations for a more precise financial overview.

The data includes Government of Jersey departments only.

G

The review of the Communications Directorate has not commenced, and information is not currently freely available. Therefore, it is not possible to provide a cost comparison. The cost of the Communications Directorate has been provided in previous Freedom of Information responses.

H

Please see response to question (G).

I

Please refer to link provided in response to question (A).

J

None. No positions are currently being reviewed within the Communications Directorate.

Articles applied

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 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.